" AHHHHHHHH!" Sith and Jedi alike let out loud battle cries as they rushed into battle. The Sith came out swinging in a moment three jedi knights had fallen. But the Jedi were no slouches, they retaliated with force and began a battle for control all over the Temple.
Jacen drew his saber; it was a vibrant green just like his masters and followed the man into Battle.
" Jacen, stick close and strike hard." Zallow told the boy. Zallow leapt into the air and easily dispatched the Sith in front of him before continuing forward.
" Yes, master!" Jacen replied.
Zallow and Jacen ran straight into a group of Sith.
" Yeaaah!" Jacen shouted as he leapt into the air. His blade collided with one of the Sith and the two began battle, While Zallow confronted the others.
The Sith acolyte brought his saber down on top of Jacen's head, but Jacen parried the man's saber and struck at his legs with his blade forcing the Sith to block, but the moment Jacen's blade connected with the sits, Jacen used the force and the momentum from his blow to fling himself over the man's shoulder and ran him through the heart with his saber. Jacen didn't have time to focus as he was immediately forced into battle by another one of the Sith.
' Ugh! This one's stronger than the last. I need to be careful and quick.' Jacen thought to himself. He blocked the Sith quick strikes, each one feeling heavier than the last. ' Djem So, I need to focus on my soresu and try to catch him off-guard.' Jacen slipped back and began using form 3 to defend against the man's heavy strikes, parrying and blocking each strike with precision. However, the Sith managed to catch Jacen off-guard forcing Jacen to backflip to avoid having his had taken off. ' Soresu isn't going to work in this fight. He's strong, but he's slow.' Jacen thought to himself. He then changed his form and charged his opponent. Using the force to strengthen his body, Jacen lunged at the big man striking at his ankles. The Sith blocked Jacen's first strike. Jacen rolled quickly and sliced the back of the man's leg causing him to grunt in pain and stagger. ' NOW!' Seeing his chance Jacen quickly leapt up and used his blade to decapitate the man. ' This is insane.' Jacen thought to himself as he landed on the ground. He looked around and searched for his master amidst the anarchy around him. " There!" Jacen spotted his master in the center of the hall with T7 and ran up to the two. " Master!"
" Jacen! Are you alright?" Zallow asked.
" Yes, sorry master. I got separated by the Sith." Jacen told the man.
" Don't worry about it, good job on staying alive." Zallow told the boy.
" Beep boop beeep!" T7 happily greeted his friend.
" Nice to see you too T7." Jacen told the droid.
" Jacen, listen to me. You need to get off the planet. My emergency Ship is down in the archives still. I want you to go there and use it to escape." Zallow told the boy.
" But master. I can help." Jacen replied.
" You've already done more than enough. But you are too important for us... For me to lose." Zallow told the boy. " Get off the planet. Find Aryn and she'll help you."
" But what about you master?" Jacen asked.
T7 beeped and Zallow turned his attention to the man causing the most damage in the hall. " I'll put an end to this." Zallow told the boy. He then began charging towards Darth Malgus and attacked the Sith juggernaut.
Jacen watched as his master battled the Sith and then turned towards T7. " Come on little buddy, we need to go."
" Wooo." T7 replied.
" I know. But right now, there's no other way." Jacen told the sad machine. Jacen Ran towards the doorway to the Archives but stopped when he noticed one of his fellow padawans and their master being assaulted by Sith. ' Darn it.' Jacen cursed he ran up behind the men and jumped, jamming his blade into one of their head and using him as a springboard. He then kicked one of the other men in his head and threw his blade up in time to block the strike of the last Acolyte. Jacen then began parrying each of the man's strikes. Jacen leapt into the air and tried to cut the man's shoulder, but the Sith easily parried the strike and returned one at Jacen's back. Jacen quickly spun around and brought his blade down on the Sith's forcing it to the ground.
" You're strong little one. You'd make an excellent acolyte." The Sith taunted.
" I'd never join you losers. I'm too busy kicking your ass." Jacen replied. He jumped up and kicked the man in his chest causing him to stumble. Jacen pushed his assault and jumped at the man's head striking at it once again. The Sith threw his blade up quickly and attempted to block it but was pushed back once again.
" Arrogant brat, don't push your luck." The Sith composed himself and lunged at Jacen using his superior size and strength to try and overwhelm the boy.
Jacen grunted as his momentum was fading. ' I need to get him fast.' Jacen took a look back at the dead knight and the injured padawan. She was leaning over on the dead woman's body and crying. ' She's no help.' Jacen thought to himself. He felt his hands beginning to tremble slightly as the Sith acolyte's attacks grew fiercer and fiercer. ' He's too busy attacking. I have an idea.' Jacen reached out with the force and grabbed one of the deceased Sith's lightsabers and pulled it towards him.
The Sith unaware of what was happening continued his assault, slamming his saber down on top of Jacen's over and over again. " HA! HA! HA! Ha!!!!!! UgH!" The man's assault was ended by a surprise saber in his back. When he looked back at Jacen, he saw the boy was smiling and knew he had been killed by a child.
" Damn, he was tough." Jacen exclaimed as he put his lightsaber away. Jacen then turned and ran towards the young padawan. " Hey are you alright?" Jacen asked the girl.
" Master... Master sar'fai is dead." The girl cried.
Jacen felt bad for the girl, despite his training, Jacen had never been much to follow along with the Jedi's codes. " I know it's hard. But if we don't get out of here now then your masters sacrifice would have been for nothing." Jacen told the girl. " What's your name?"
" Ava... Ava'dara." The girl replied.
" Well, Ava'dara, I'm Jacen. Your master protected you with her life. That means you were precious to her. If you die here, then everything you two have ever been through and her sacrifice it would all be in vain." Jacen told the girl. " I'm not gonna let that happen. Do you hear me. You want to honor your master then come with me and let's get out of here."
Ava'dara wiped her eyes and nodded.
Jacen nodded and grabbed Master Sar'fai's lightsaber and handed it to Ava'dara. " This is yours now, keep it close to you and follow me. Stay close and we'll get out of this together." Jacen told the girl.
Ava'dara nodded and gripped the lightsaber tightly in her hands.
Jacen placed his hands on Ava'dara's shoulders to help ease her conscious. " Come on." Jacen got to his feet and ran with Ava'dara and T7 to the archives. The sound of their brothers and sisters falling behind them ringing throughout the entire temple.
" Come on, don't look back!" Jacen yelled.
As they ran an explosion suddenly rocked the temple and parts of the floor caved in.
" Beeep!" T7 who had been behind Ava'dara suddenly fell through the floor.
" T7!!!!" Jacen shouted. He watched as his friend plummeted into the dark depths of the Jedi Temple. Jacen's heart throbbed upon seeing one of his oldest friends suddenly vanish, but in his mind, he knew right now he had no time to mourn or worry, he still had to make sure he and Ava'dara got off the planet safely. " Come on, we can't waste time." Jacen told the girl. He turned and continued running, but despite his attempts to hide it Ava could see the boy was clearly hurt.
Jacen and Ava'dara eventually arrived in the Jedi Archives.
" Come on. Master Zallow keeps his private Shuttle here, it's big enough to support a hyperjump. I just need-- AHHH!" As Jacen was speaking, he suddenly felt a searing pain in his chest and his vision became flooded with images of his master.
" You were deceived! And now your republic will fall." Malgus told Ven Zallow as he buried his lightsaber in the man's chest. Malgus pulled his blade from Zallows chest and Zallow dropped to his knees, his life fading by the second. The last thing Zallow saw before death was the sight of coruscant burning from the Sith empire's assault.
" Jacen, be strong~" Zallow uttered his last words to his student before becoming one with the force.
Jacen saw everything his master had and felt the heavy weight of grief and sadness wash over him. He had now lost both his friend T7 and his master. It wasn't until Ava'dara screamed that Jacen snapped back to reality. When he looked towards the doors to the archives, he saw a wave of Sith gathering on them. Jacen's anger rose and for a brief moment his power surged.
" Ahhh! AHH! AHHHHHHHH!" Jacen let out his rage and with one thrust of his hands blew the men and women away with a large force blast. The temple rocked from the force of the blast and many of the Sith warriors including Darth Malgus and Darth Angral, who was still on his command ship above Coruscant, felt the surge of power.
" Darth Angral to Darth Malgus!' Angral tried communicating with the dark lord.
" Darth Angral, we all felt it." Malgus replied to the man.
" Find that jedi, I want him alive!" Darth Angral ordered.
" It shall be done." Malgus replied before cutting the connection. He threw his robe up and made his way to return to the Jedi Temple.
Back at the temple, Jacen was on his knees, exhausted from the strain he had put on his body.
" Jacen." Ava'dara called to the boy as she ran up to him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. " Come on, we have to go. They won't be down forever. There are more coming." Ava'dara told the boy.
Jacen was still angered, but he knew she was right. So, he swallowed his pride and nodded at the girl.
Jacen composed himself and led ava'dara onto the small starship.
" Coruscant is under attack, the main attack ship is in the sky over the city. I can get us out of here. but I need you to try and keep the attack ships off of us." Jacen told the girl.
" I've never used a turret before." Ava'dara told the boy.
" That's fine you'll catch on quick. all you need to do is aim and push the triggers." Jacen told the girl. ' But that's easier said than done. I've flown this ship hundreds of times, but I've never had to fly in conditions this bad. Pirates are one thing, but an entire army of Sith fighters is going to be no walk in the park.
The sound of fighters passing over and explosions continued to rock the jedi temple, pieces of the ceiling caved in, and the fires began spreading.
' We only have this one chance.' Jacen powered up the engines to the ship and took off into the sky. Immediately they were set upon by the Sith empire's fighters.
The fighters shot at the ship that Jacen and Ava were currently in aggressively, trying their best to take the ship down.
Jacen gritted his teeth and steered the ship out of the way of the bolts heading towards them, nearly crashing into one of the burning buildings while doing so. " Damn, Ava, I need you to keep those guys off of us." Jacen shouted.
" I'm trying, but I told you I never used this thing before." Ava replied as she struggled to shoot down the skilled fighters.
In his ship, Darth Angral was getting reports that a ship was attempting to escape the planet.
" I want that ship shot down and the passengers brought to me do you understand me!?" Angral shouted. " We must not let them get away!" Angral demanded.
The Fighters intensified their pursuit on Jacen's ship. Blasting and destroying the towers around them in ana attempt to crash the ship.
Jacen pulled on the controls and barrel rolled through the tumbling towers.
" What was it you used to say master? I had a knack for crashing good ships." Jacen joked. " Well, not today. Ava! Hold on the Hyper drive is ready!" Jacen shouted to the older padawan. Jacen punched the Hyper drive and the ship jumped into hyperspace towards Alderaan.
Below them Darth Malgus watched as the Ship vanished into space.
" NO! NO! NOOOOO!" Darth Angral shouted in anger! " All ships destroy the Jedi Temple!" Angral commanded and another bombardment began on the Jedi Temple burying it completely. " This is not over."
Having escaped Coruscant by the skin of their teeth, Jacen and Ava'dara were resting in their seats. The adrenaline wearing off and the weight of everything that had just happened finally hitting them hard. Jacen and Ava'dara both started crying over the loss of their masters and so many of their peers.
In a single day, the Empire had dealt a blow unlike any other before. In a single day they completely crippled the Jedi for years to come.
End of Prologue.