Ace in the Hole

Act 1 - Chapter 4

Chapter IV - Planetfill
The Rogue Shadow shook as it finally exited hyperspace, the cockpit and other parts of the ship were hit by large objects, with both Proxy and Acacius flinging out of their seats and onto the floor.
"We're heeeeerrrreeeee!" Azure announced to her two passengers, in a lighthearted and joking way. Acacius got up and helped Proxy back to his feet. Acacius looked out the window, seeing the planet, a brown and gray planet with an overwhelming cloud of dust, dirt, and overall trash wrapped around it. It even had formed rings from the sheer amount of garbage on and around it. This must've been a dumping ground of some kind.
"Azure, can you give me any information on this planet?"
"Well, our previous reconnaissance teams have some information, I'll give what I have. This planet seems like it used to be a dwarf planet, no bigger than a moon. But after centuries of garbage and what other poodoo they were throwing here its gone up substantially. The only place that isn't covered in trash was one building that our soldiers found, which had some extremely old flag still on it. It was red and had what we think were tools of some kind, it was too tattered and discolored to tell."
"So this is just a giant dump, noted. Thanks Azure, I'll see you guys after this is done." Acacius said as he looked across the landscape, putting his helmet on to be able to breathe in the atmosphere that was composed of oxygen and mostly hydrogen, as well as shitloads of dust and other debris. He learned his lesson after Coruscant. Azure stopped him before he opened the door to the ship,
"Wait!" she yelled. "There's stuff in this air, do not take that helmet off, no matter what happens."
"What? You mean the dust and shit in the atmosphere? Of course I can't breathe that." Acacius said, confused by her words.
"Nono, there's something else. I can't tell what it is, nothing like it shows up on our database. It's like... spores?" She said, unsure how to describe the particles in the tainted air.
Acacius laughed it off, "Ha! I don't know what that means!"
"Well, regardless, it's bad. Don't take off that helmet." Azure replied back, opening the doors once again. "Stay alive, I gotta find somewhere to park this bird."
Acacius gave her a quick salute, and then jumped out of the door. He dived down to the ruined buildings and mountains of trash above the brown sea. Even with his helmet on the air stung his body as he fell, like microscopic needles poking him everywhere as he fell rapidly. He pulled the string on his parachute, gliding down the rest of the way as the stinging sensation ceased.
As he made contact with the ground, he looked around, noticing just how much garbage was actually on here. Corpses of Imperial Stormtroopers and different types of strange aliens were scattered about, and it smelled horrid. The Imperial corpses were more recent, probably reconnaissance, they didn't smell as bad since there weren't any detritivores that could break through their armor. The bodies of the aliens however were rotting away where their skin was exposed, and they were too rotted away to tell at a glance. Regardless, he pressed onward.
He walked around, trying to find the Jedi, trying to avoid the mangled bodies all around, although he did glance at some of them out of morbid curiosity. Some of the bodies had burn marks on them, most likely from blaster fire. Although a lot more had wounds that looked like claw marks almost.
Acacius then came across a gigantic canyon, He noticed something glowing a greenish blue color inside of one of the caves off to the side, the light pulsating as if it was living. He sensed the presence of what seemed to be hundreds of life forms, and even more that had been long dead. He unhooked his lightsaber from his belt, and kept it ready in anticipation, this whole place felt off to him, nothing was adding up.
All of a sudden, he felt something come from behind him. Acacius turned around swiftly, and force pushed the being away. A tall and reptilian alien in red armor and a split jaw hit the wall with a thud, and Acacius activated his lightsabers with a burning hiss. Acacius recognized what species this alien was, unmistakably a Sangheili, or an elite. Memories in an instant all came back in a flood of recall, Vader had told him about horror stories of them from the time of the Clone Wars, how ruthless and brutal they were, how they helped reduced one of the Republic's allies most vital planets to nothing but a searing ball of molten glass. But most importantly he remembered beating Proxy's module of an Elite.
The Sangheili got back up and took out a strange hilt, with two blades of plasma similar to a lightsaber burned out the sides. The alien screamed at him before charging at him and swinging its energy sword at him. Acacius parried the attempted blow and swung back. The Elite blocked his slash and exchanged more blows with him, slowly backing him into a corner and blocking both of his lightsabers with some effort. Acacius then tried to shoot the alien with force lightning, but was only met with the alien getting more angry.
"WAAAAARRRGGHHHH!! Kohs'sau wah Nishum!" The elite yelled, Acacius couldn't recognize the speech of the alien, but he knew it couldn't be good. The elite then in one swift motion knocked both of his sabers out of his hands, both of them nearly rolling to the edge of the canyon. It then shut off its own blade and punched Acacius across the face, the force of the punch shattered part of his jaw and some of his teeth on impact and caused him to stumble in the other direction. The Elite then picked him up from behind and grabbed Acacius on his head too, slowly beginning to twist his neck and about to kill him. Acacius struggled and grunted, but it was no use.
"NOU EEDAH-YOOK! EY KOESAY GAH CHENSAY!" A voice yelled off in the distance, Acacius opened his eyes back up as he no longer felt his neck about to be snapped, and was slowly set down. The elite then turned to another of his species that was approaching, this one clad in edged and silver armor, clearly a sign of high rank and demanding respect. Acacius took a kneel at the sight of the alien leader.
"Krort ghuj ni! Woh krorjka jah ki'nash!"
"Ni' jafla, Jah jiut kahg royakhi ni raykoh."
"Kah, r'ioh Ei wrof quis'kre ni'." The alien in red armor then walked away from Acacius, before turning around one last time. "Riok snkchch mwan 'aq." The silver armored alien then turned to Acacius.
"Do you understand this language?"
"Yes, I can understand you sir."
"Very well then. I.. apologize for what just happened human, I take it that you've not seen our kind before?" The alien said, looking at Acacius.
"No, I have not. I'm sorry, your friend caught me by surprise, and I wasn't exactly trained in diplomacy."
"I see, as was I. I am the Arbiter, the one in white armor is the Shipmaster, and these other two in red armor are my soldiers of the Swords of Sanghelios."
"Greetings wolfen, what brings you here?" The Shipmaster said, taking a small bow to Acacius as a show of respect.
"I am Acacius, servant of Lord Vader. I've come here to kill a Jedi."
"Jedi..? I have not seen of them since dust." The Arbiter said, staring into space in recollection.
"You've seen a Jedi before?"
"Indeed, many times before. I might know who you were sent after." Arbiter began to walk off, motioning Acacius to do the same. "I will explain more, follow me."
"So, who do you think that it is?"
"A grunt. He was named Kuduy, and exiled by the Prophets for losing sight of the Great Journey. He was found to possess a connection to the Wellspring, or what your kind would call 'The Force.' He must still be alive."
"The Prophets, like the Covenant?"
"Yes, precisely. After he was banished he must've become obsessed with the Jedi, or gone insane. Most likely both."
"I see, so were you banished by the Covenant too?"
"No. The Covenant is gone, they betrayed me and my brothers in favor of the brutes, and it tore itself apart. We crashed here on our own, but I fear something else is here too." The Arbiter stood up on a cliff, pointing in the distance to a giant collection of trash in the shape of a tower and a large Covenant ship that was severely damaged. "There, that was the Supercarrier that they flew here to abandon him, however he has many constructs of his guarding the path over, I will offer the help of the Swords and I."
"Awesome, let's move." Acacius said as he signaled in the air for the group to rally up and follow him, then sliding down the hill they were on and into the ravine. The rest followed shortly after.
"So, why did you crash here?" Acacius said, as they walked through the giant ravine.
"We were traveling, as we usually do. Then our fusion reactor gave out on us in the middle of a slipspace jump, so we had to make an emergency stop."
"Ah, that would make sense then. If you guys want, I can get my pilot to come and help you guys get off the planet once this is over." Acacius said. Arbiter was about to reply, before he was cut off by the Shipmaster.
"I object. Your "Empire" not only views us as filth, but the ground it is built on is soaked with blood. I would rather die than board your ship."
"E-excuse me? What do you mean?"
"You are familiar with 'Order 66', correct?"
"I've heard a little about it, but not that much."
"Well allow me to teach you. The leader of that Republic issued it to all of the clone troopers in the galaxy, and then gunned down their own generals. Then they abandoned their allies, and formed the government you now serve."
"And what is the problem with that? The Jedi are filth and treacherous anyway."
"I saw how their soldiers interacted, as well as the Jedi. They had brothership, morale, and undying honor most importantly. Honor is not turning on your allies in the most chaotic battle they ever faced. Honor is not labeling your most noble warriors as traitors. Honor is not deception."
"Honor is a fool's prize, and glory means nothing to the dead. That is what I was taught."
"You call me a fool, but you are a fool for believing your master's lies. I've seen the Sith rise to power before, they will always betray each other, victims of their own arrogance and lust for power. The eyes of fate will look at you no different." Suddenly the elite was interrupted, and pushed back by the Arbiter.
"Shipmaster, that is enough. Regardless of our beliefs, we are still here. We all must put them aside if we are to get off this planet alive." The Arbiter stopped for a second and smelled the air. "That stench. It's only getting stronger." He kept smelling, aside from the trash and other gasses in the air there was a new smell. It smelled of an earthy jungle plant, mixed with mold, the stench of a rotting carcass, and citrus.
"Unggoy, or Shinso?" Another elite said, pointing to Acacius as he asked the arbiter.
"No. This is..." Arbiter said, trying to remember where he had smelled the scent before. The name was on the tip of his split mouth, but he just couldn't recall at the moment.
Suddenly, Acacius was being shot at from above. Without another thought he drew one of his lightsabers and began to deflect the blaster bolts. As he traced back where the shots came from, he saw 3 green humanoid figures with black eyes and armor stationed on a collapsed beam up high at mid-range, they were the ones shooting him. The Arbiter deflected the stray blaster bolts that came after him with his own energy sword that burned a bright flaming orange and faded to yellow at the tips, as the other elites behind him took out their weapons and started shooting above. Once their shots stopped for a brief second he grabbed onto the beam above and pulled it down, watching it crash down in front of him. He jumped forward off of the platform and landed on the beam, catching the soldiers off guard and disoriented as he stabbed each of them through the chest and killed them.
"What is the issue?" The Arbiter said to Acacius, seeing what just happened in front of him. Acacius kneeled down to the body of one of the soldiers he had just killed, examining its huge beady eyes, green scaly skin, and strange ear structure. He opened the mouth to look at the dental structure and tongue, before closing it back up. Acacius then walked to the edge of the beam to get closer to the shore to talk to Arbiter at a normal level.
"Rodians. They're probably junkers trying to get something useful out of this scrap. They probably saw the imperial sigil on my armor and thought I was here to arrest them."
"I see, I believe it wouldn't be outlandish to say the rest are coming for us." Arbiter said, clenching his energy sword. Suddenly a bright red dot appeared on Acacius's forehead.
"Correct." Acacius ducked out of the way immediately as a blaster bolt zipped by and narrowly grazed the top of his head. He activated his lightsabers again with a burning hiss, dashing over to the other side of the cave as fast he could and out of an opening to the other side. The Arbiter ran after him as fast as he could, and made it to the base of one of the sniper towers that was constructed out of trash, and slashed the legs of the structure. The tower then took a huge tumble backwards, and the sniper fell out before Arbiter stabbed him with an energy sword. Acacius dashed up the other tower, and grabbed the other sniper with a force choke before tossing him with a force push into the deep reaches of the caverns below.
Acacius looked down below, seeing more rodian soldiers stationed everywhere in the valley, and in front of the covenant ship that led to the trash tower. However the rodians were shooting at something in the distance. He looked over to see many tall, bipedal constructs of trash wielding vibro axes and spears, mostly made of crudely meshed together droid parts, heads, and other metals. Acacius signaled Arbiter and the other elites to move in while they were distracted. Acacius jumped down and cut down a soldier as he landed, and Arbiter stabbed his energy sword into the wall of the mountain and slid down as the other elites made their way down the longer path.
The trash droids began to notice the blaster fire was being diverted away from them, before turning their attention towards Acacius as he began to kill the other rodians. Acacius used his lightsabers to block the oncoming volley of blaster bolts being rained on him by the rodian soldiers, and their two heavy units with chain blasters. The Arbiter jumped off of the side of the mountain and started cutting down soldiers left and right to divert fire to him, effortlessly deflecting blaster shots that came too close.
Acacius used the force on one of the heavy gunners and picked them up, diverting the fire to the other heavy gunner and killing them as well as shooting at the junk droids that were rapidly approaching. As he began to gun them down, more junk droids began to be formed within moments with the surrounding trash, until there were nearly thirty more than the previously only four. Acacius threw the heavy soldier and the chaingun aside, preparing himself for what was to come.
He dashed at them with his lightsabers, cutting and slicing them apart as fast as they swung at him too. Arbiter also fended off the junk droids as they came after him, disarming them before slicing them apart into the scrap they were made of. The shipmaster came down with the other elites, and took out a plasma carbine rifle to assist Arbiter. The other two elites took their weapons out too, one had two guns with pink spiky crystals sticking out of the top, and the other had a shorter one handed plasma rifle, and shot the droids as they began to be swarmed.
One of the droids ran through the volley of plasma being shot at it as chunks of its body flew off and got burned holes through itself, before it got close to the elite that was shooting it before stabbing him straight through the chest with a virbo spear. The elite yelled out in pain, taking his energy sword and stabbing the droid through the head and shaking it off of him.
Everywhere, droids were shot down or blown up by the elites, and then others cut down by Acacius or the Arbiter. The droids were swarming everywhere, and backing them up extremely quickly. They were replenishing as fast as they were being destroyed, cut, electrocuted, shot, exploded, everything the group was trying merely led to more joining the swarm. The elite from earlier was tackled to the ground, and flailed around violently as the droids tore him apart with their weapons. The rest of the group had no time to react, and kept being swarmed. They kept fending off the droids just barely, when suddenly the droids stopped coming. They continued to cut the remaining ones down with haste, until they were all destroyed, hundreds of disassembled droids were scattered across the ground.
Acacius ran over to the elite that had been killed by the droids, maimed and bleeding everywhere with wounds all over his body and his chest gaped open. He felt sorrow for the elite, and he kneeled down to pick him up. but was halted by the feeling of Arbiter's hand on his shoulder.
"Please, do not interfere with his body."
"Wha- why not..?" Acacius said
"Because, Myore died a warrior's death, this is where he must remain."
"But.. but it just feels wrong. I feel like I should at least help hide his wounds"
"I understand, there are many differences between our views, our species, and our cultures. But this was his culture, and I urge you to honor it, and to honor his final resting place. His body wears those wounds as awards, a show of his honor even in death, do not deny him that. And I promise you that we will give him a proper service when my brothers and I arrive on Sanghelios."
"Alright.. I understand then." Acacius sighed and looked up at the giant tower of trash, looking to be an attempt at constructing a Jedi Temple. It looked like it was growing out of the ship itself, like a hollowed carcass of an animal with a sapling sprouting out of it. "That tower, that's where he's at?"
"Yes, though be wary, none of us have made it here yet. Keep your weapons close, human." The third elite said, reloading his needlers and preparing himself. Acacius nodded in response and clenched his lightsabers. He then signaled the four of them to proceed into the dilapidated Covenant Corvette.