AN: TRIPLE RELEASE today~
Descending into a tight fitting maintenance shaft, Corvus was forced to duck low, and had already bumped his helmeted head on the ceiling several times during his super speed escape.
Following the interface's map, and using the Force/his lightsabers to pry open various doors, Corvus finally found a wide open tunnel that opened up into an area with decent foot traffic. Taking off the iconic mask, Corvus quick-changed his clothes, and found a hotel.
With a quick wave of the hand, Corvus [Mind Tricked] the receptionist into accepting his 'credentials' and paid for a room.
Once he was inside the hotel room-it was standard like any other-Corvus tossed his sweaty, grimy body into the shower, and turned on the hot water.
"Haaah." Corvus let out a low sigh, and stretched his aching muscles.
Thinking back to the battle that had just taken place, he winced as he recalled several close calls that almost got him killed:
A vibroknife had knicked him under the ribs. His forearm had become singed, and the Cortosis-Weave garb on that arm was torn and frayed after tanking a stray round from a turbolaser. His boots were rough, and a pebble from a skyscraper had been under his heel the entire time, causing his foot to itch and bleed incessantly! Fuck! Just thinking about that pebble was almost enough to drive Corvus to the darkside with rage!
Besides that pebble, there had also been many, many close calls with explosives, poison gases, darts, and insanely accurate blaster fire.
"Those Mandalorians weren't playing around, I can see why they gained their fame…it was like facing off against twelve Boba Fetts all at once." Corvus muttered to himself in complaint as he let the hot water wash over him.
Elite Mandalorians were rare in the galaxy after they had basically neutered themselves when Dutchess Satine tried to erase thousands of years of culture. However, true Mandos still existed, and this merc group was proof of that. Their incredible accuracy, and reflexes were stunning, their teamwork, flawless. The entire time that he fought, Corvus barely had an opportunity to use his greatest strength-his mobility-to his advantage!
In all his days spent as a Jedi Knight, this was the most oppression he had faced on the battlefield! It was one thing to be overcome in a 1v1 or against a darksider within some crypt or cave, but every time he had faced blaster wielding regulars, he had come out on top with ease. Every time except today.
Out in the open, facing foes who could fly…Corvus realized he was practically a sitting duck, just waiting for slaughter! In situations such as that, it really made him wish he could fly, or had promoted to Jedi Master (low). Of course he could yank them down one at a time, but this wasn't some videogame where the other 11 guys would stop shooting at him, and give him time to solo them one at a time. As a man with a laser sword, the most important thing was being able to actually use said laser sword. It didn't help that beskar armor was extremely resistant to lightsabers either.
Furthermore, this was the first time since he had escaped the Temple during Order 66 that he had been forced to retreat. It was an awful, sickening feeling, but he was at his wits end. In his heart of hearts, he was a Jedi Shadow, he was the one who was supposed to be launching the preemptive attacks, not the enemy! Truthfully, he had been caught off guard by the sudden attack. Perhaps he expected some retaliation, maybe a few local police, or maybe some rioters who were anti-Jedi. But a squadron of elite Mandalorians? And that mech!
Standing at 12ft tall, and bristling with more guns than seemed possible, that mechanical monstrosity was a major pain in the ass to deal with! Someone must've taken one look at Grievous' vanilla ass, and went 'we can do better.' Because hot damn did that sucker pack a punch!
At first, Corvus had thought it was an experimental droid. After all, throughout Legends, there had been some absolutely bonkers droids that had been constructed. The Atherna, and SV-3 Eradicator battle droids for example, stood in parody of this giant droid, so it wasn't impossible from a technical sense. However, Corvus had felt a deep seated malice from this set of power armor, and discovered it was in fact, piloted by a human mind!
Not only was it human, but before his [Mind Trick's] connection was broken, he got a small glimpse into the identity of the man within the machine. Much to his surprise, it was Wilhuff Tarkin! Corvus didn't know how they did it, but someone either had a god-tier physician on hand, or they cloned his brain.
Honestly speaking, that mech was some bullshit, equipped with bullshit accessories! His wrists had almost cracked when he parried those immense strikes, and it was only thanks to his ability to enhance his kyber crystal that he withstood the overwhelming weight of the machine. Other than that, the amount of concentrated firepower was extremely annoying! Lastly, the booster jets allowed that slow, ponderous robot-body to suddenly accelerate at a rate that met or in some cases-like when Tarkin overclocked his boosters-exceeded his speed!
If he fought Tarkin one on one, he was pretty confident that he could have emerged victorious, flattening him like a tin can. However, with a thousand different attacks coming at all angles, he was forced to parry and dodge all over the place. Ordinarily, he would have happily spammed things like [Force Lightning] or even put some of his few remaining points into [Droid Stun]. Yet due to being under constant attack, he had to regulate his FP bar. Being only able to cast 7 abilities before having to wait about 1-5 minutes for it to fully regen was torture. A minute was a short amount of time, but when in the heat of combat, a minute might as well be forever! Especially when he was Pause-buffering every second, narrowly dodging the absolute deluge of blaster fire, missiles, darts, and poison gas sent his way!
Thus, spamming [Force Lightning] was a pipe dream. Instead, he had to ration his abilities, saving his limited energy to deflect missiles, heal in case of an emergency, or as had happened most often, reapply [Energy Resistance]. A back seat general might say use [Force Lightning], without ever considering that he was being shot at from 360 degrees by some of the most experienced killers in the galaxy. Heck, Jango Fett by himself had slain six Jedi in his time, and Corvus had faced twelve men just as capable. Most people know that the best way to kill a Jedi-besides surprise-is overwhelming firepower from multiple angles. And his opponents today not only took him by surprise, but also held the high ground.
Anyone could look down upon Mandalorians & cyborgs, but there's a reason why most Jedi/Sith don't spam Force powers, and primarily use their lightsabers for combat…because that shit was really taxing! For example, when he healed sections of the city, he was completely drained, and that was only thanks to the help of his kyber crystal, and a rare, fleeting connection to the Force similar to an epiphany. He didn't heal the entire planet all at once, such feats were beyond him.
Now that he had experience in fighting this new foe, Corvus had thought about how he could've fought better, and was ready to bring his A game.
Exiting the shower, he dried himself off, got dressed, and sat down in a meditative pose to calm his mind/state of being.
[Master?!]
An inclination through his Force Bond with Jax drew his attention away from his relaxation. Feeling his Padawan's worry and concern, he decided to give the kid a call.
A second later, Jax picked up. His holographic form was full of static, and flickered more than usual.
"Your Master is okay, thank you for your concern, Jax. I hope everything is alright on your end?" Corvus said in a calm voice, and left out any of the frustration he had felt for Tarkin and those kriffing Mandalorians.
"Not good, Master. We completed the mission flawlessly, but the Tarkin patriarch was missing! During our extraction, we were ambushed by mercenaries. Wrecker is in critical condition, and the city is in chaos!" Jax said in his typical slow, and steady tone, however, Corvus picked up a hint of uncertainty, and worry underneath it all.
"Tell him our LAAT was shot down, and we need evac." Yon's voice suddenly butted in.
"Is Captain Clip aware of your plight?" Corvus asked.
What went left unsaid was 'can't he help you? Do I personally have to get involved?'
Jax bowed his head in silence. If Corvus didn't know better, he'd think the brat was embarrassed or acting submissive. But the white haired teen was a deep thinker, and often slow to reply. Closing his eyes, Corvus relaxed himself whilst he awaited his student's reply.
"We did, but…the Captain said unless our lives were in danger, to remain under cover, per your orders." Jax replied in a solemn tone.
It was as if he was saying 'see, Master, we can solve our own problems, but it was your words that sealed our fate!'
"That's right, that's right. Master, get the Captain a ship to pick us up." Yon chimed in.
Corvus felt his eyebrow twitch, and an ugly scowl briefly flashed across his face when he heard Yon's words. Jax clearly understood the bigger picture regarding the secrecy of the fleet, and the element of surprise. Yon, meanwhile, was mindlessly going with the flow.
"Haaah." Corvus exhaled, and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. These two students would be the death of him. "Put Hunter on, I want to hear his opinion."
"General." Hunter curtly said, and saluted once his hologram came into view.
"Status report." Corvus tiredly saluted back, and demanded.
"It's as Ghost said, General. All but one target eliminated. Wrecker is hurt bad, sir, don't know if even bacta will do him any good. If it's not too much to ask, what's your and Omega's position? We can hijack a transport, and be there in minutes." Hunter said in an impatient tone.
Corvus could sense some level of fear, and steely resolve in the man. He was prepared to lose a brother, yet he dared hope. Corvus closed his eyes, and retrieved his coordinates from his map interface.
"I'm staying at the Galactic Starcruiser Hotel. Room 313." Corvus succinctly replied.
"My HUD says that's 10 blocks away. We'll be there in less than half an hour. Give the kid my regards." Hunter nodded, then left the field of view.
Corvus only just realized what Hunter had said.
'Ahh shit.'
In all the chaos, he had forgotten about Omega!
During that first initial assault, Corvus had focused on saving as many civilians as he could. Among those people, he had helped herd the little clone girl to safety.
Unfortunately, he had been too caught up in the life or death battle to pay her too much mind…to make matters worse, she was wearing a Taozin Amulet. Unless he was within a few feet of her, she was like a blank within the Force!
'Ugh, if anything happens to her, I can kiss my cooperation with the Bad Batch goodbye. Worst comes to worst, I might even have to…no, no, that kid is a survivor. She got up to all sorts of crazy shit in the TV show, and got lost all the time. It'll be fine, she'll be fine.' Corvus thought to himself.
Finding Omega would be difficult, but with the help of future tech, not impossible. He could worry about that later. Now was the time to plot against Tarkin, and possibly investigate that intense sensation he had felt a moment ago. Perhaps he really could instigate a rebellion?
Just as he had this thought, Corvus heard distant-yet all too near-explosions from the street outside.
Looking out a window, he witnessed 4 Mandalorians, and the damaged cybersuit begin to indiscriminately mow down waves of people. Not only that, but corporate sector private soldiers bearing the Tarkin family crest were systematically destroying everything in sight, and had cordonned off the area. Several dozen gunships hovered above, their bright search lights pierced the nightly gloom. Over a thousand heavily armed troops, and a dozen more prototype AT-TE's began to advance, closing the net.
"Jedi! The blood of innocents lies on your hands! Emerge from your hiding hole, and face the Empire's justice!" Tarkin's cultured voice boomed from the vox-coder.
Corvus frowned at the sight, and his heart tensed as he watched dozens of civilians fall to their demise. He didn't consider himself a hero, and if he had no chance at victory, would refuse to join a fight. Too many Jedi across history had died like dogs because of their sense of justice. Vader himself had used this strategy to cleanse most Jedi off the face of the galaxy!
'Damnit. How did he know I was here?! It couldn't be by security camera, as I entered and exited several buildings invisibly before coming to this hotel…could he secretly placed a tracker on me?...and when I placed my clothes in my inventory, the signal was cut!!!'
As his eyes widened in revelation, his heart pounded as he witnessed scene after scene of carnage.
"Revan! Come out!" Tarkin barked once more.
Corvus inhaled deeply, then ignited his lightsabers, and donned the mask once more.
This time, he would be the predator.
Tarkin wanted a Jedi, but little did he know, Revan wasn't real, he was but a Shadow.