Jedi Insurgency 189

The Millennium Falcon skimmed the neon canyons of Nar Shaddaa like a stone skipped across water, its pristine hull flashing between holo-ads and stacked hab-blocks. Laser fire screeched the air behind it, as green lances from a half-dozen Imperial TIE fighters blasted forth. Their screeching sound effect was a constant buzz as they blotted out the skies. 

Corvus sat alone in the Falcon's cockpit, hands loose on the controls, cloak draped back over the pilot’s chair. His expression was calm, almost distant, as if the city tearing past him were a projection instead of a very real deathtrap.

“Predictable.” He murmured as another volley scorched past the portside. 

He rolled the Falcon sideways, blasting two ships, before turning invisible,  and idling in place. The squad of TIEs overshot him, unable to compensate for the sudden disappearing act. The Falcon’s dorsal turret tracked automatically, unleashing twin bursts of fire reducing the squadron into expanding clouds of debris.

During this dogfight, his exp bar had trickled ever closer to a level up, and in perhaps another hundred kills, he would reach level 26. Whilst this fight was underway, he had clearly sensed that Thrawn was in this theater of war. Although the purple blooded alien wasn't Force Sensitive, Corvus would never forget his presence in the Force. After his brilliant rescue of Vader on Eriadu, Thrawn had cemented himself as both a threat, and potential ally. To make matters even more interesting, he sensed that Tann had finally arrived. 

Although he couldn't pick her up on his sensors, he was certain that she had just entered the system. If he wasn't mistaken, she should be piloting an experimental stealth bomber. As for why he was so certain she had arrived? Well, her shared Force Bond oozed smug satisfaction, and confidence. As if she fancied herself the knight in shining armor here to rescue the Princess. 

Corvus chuckled at such a thought. If she had arrived half an hour earlier, they could have diced Maul into sashimi. By this point, her addition was more like an extra ingredient to a dish, as opposed to the main course…However, her addition would certainly spice things up! 

A devious smirk spread across his face as he came up with an interesting idea. Entering several codes, he began a trilateral call between himself, and his two favorite Chiss. 

After about a minute, both of them answered the call, much to his amusement. 

One image resolved into the cool blue visage of a Chiss woman seated in the cockpit of a sleek, dagger-shaped craft. Sev’rance Tann lounged in her command chair as if it were a throne, one boot propped casually against a console. Her crimson eyes gleamed with amusement, and the faint smile on her lips was sharpened to a weapon.

Another holo shimmered into the tall, composed figure of a young Chiss male. He, likewise, was seated upon a command throne. Thrawn’s posture was flawless. Hands folded behind his back, his eyes remained calm-despite the absolute thrashing the Falcon was visiting upon the TIE's-as he surveyed data streams only he could see. 

Corvus didn’t look at either hologram as he twisted the Falcon between two towers, debris raining down in his wake.

“Your timing remains…theatrical, as always, Master Revan.” Thrawn said. His voice was cool, and measured. “You are currently being pursued by six TIE squadrons, and still find time to chat? Remarkable.”

“Thank you both for joining me, I see that those new rank pauldrons are quite shiny. Welcome, Rear Admiral Thrawn. And to you, my dear Supreme Commander, welcome, I trust the connection is stable?” Corvus fluffed Thrawn up, and then acted as if Tann were speaking from half a galaxy away in another theater of war. She was piloting stealth bombers, keeping up the deception would be critical in the coming minutes. 

Tann laughed, in a low and velvety voice. “Stable enough to watch you get shot at, my dear Jedi. Honestly, Revan, we haven't laid eyes upon one another in person for six months, and here you are, consorting with a younger Chiss. Should I be jealous?” Her tone was playful, and teasing, yet carried an edge that only a military commander accustomed to having their every order carried out could possess. 

During this brief exchange, a TIE exploded off the Falcon’s starboard side, gently rocking the ship. 

“Perhaps you should be jealous.” Corvus smirked, then inclined his head to Thrawn. “The Rear Admiral is a genius beyond his years, you know he's only turned 20 this year. Quite the remarkable young man.” 

Thrawn’s eyes shifted, focusing on Corvus, a thin smile spread across his face. His lazy eyes clearly saw through Corvus’s nonsense, and he clucked his tongue.

“Your evasive pattern is statistically inefficient. However, it has succeeded in drawing my fighter screen deeper into the urban grid. Civilian casualties will rise by approximately twelve percent if this continues.” Thrawn spoke in a monotone. 

“I can see why you keep him around.” Tann sarcastically drawled. “He must be amazing at parties.” 

“Not quite as exciting as you, my dear.” Corvus softly chuckled, recalling this crazy saber monkey woman absolutely eviscerating that ‘Grand Inquisitor’ after the prison escape. 

That was a malnourished, imprisoned Tann of five years. He could only imagine how much of her former strength she had recovered since then. 

Corvus then glanced toward Thrawn’s holo, and shrugged his shoulders. “I appreciate your concern for the locals, Mitth'raw'nuruodo, however, your superiors seem not to share your concerns.” 

He then glanced towards the burning skyscrapers, and the ongoing turbolaser barrage in silence. As if to say ‘really, you're blaming this on me?’ 

“Rear Admiral, if you would. Let us not allow personal feelings to cloud our judgements, Master Jedi.” Thrawn steadily corrected. 

Tann snorted. “Oh, do forgive him, Corvus. The boy climbed a ladder too fast and now thinks himself better than the rest of us.”

Thrawn’s gaze sharply flicked to Tann in assessment. 

“Supreme Commander Tann, I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure of making an acquaintance. Your presence in this call was unexpected. Given your…prior record, I would have assumed a return to your homeworld of Csilla in shame.”

Tann’s smile was all teeth. A feral pleasure pulsed through the Force. 

“And I would have assumed that someone barely old enough to shave wouldn’t be given a fleet. Yet here we both are, little Mitth pup.”

“Just so.” Thrawn inclined his head. “The Sevara family must be quite proud of your accolades. Otherwise, you surely would have received a recall notice by now. After all, no true Chiss would ignore their matriarch.” Thrawn idly commented, as if he were discussing the weather. 

Tann's buttons most defined were pressed, and she barely contained herself from lashing out. 

“Tell me, boy, did Lord Vader pick you because you impressed him…or because everyone else was dead?” 

The implication was clear, Tann was questioning Thrawn’s competence, implying that he only rose through the ranks because of the Sith Lord's famous [Force Choke]. 

Corvus let them duke it out, as he was in an intense scuffle. Overclocking the LAAT beams that were facing forward, he destroyed a light cruiser, and burst through the debris like a devil crashing through a building. Smoke costed the Falcon's frame, and the sound of missile locks was constant, yet he could only grin to himself as he was a few dozen kills away from leveling. 

Thrawn inclined his head slightly, unoffended by Tann's barbed words. Almost as if he viewed such base attacks as the annoyed mewling of an ineffectual feline. 

“I was selected to represent our people because I succeeded where others failed. An unfamiliar concept, I understand.”

Tann’s smile thinned. For a fraction of a second, something colder flickered beneath her arrogance. Then she leaned forward, predatory grace returning. “Careful. I commanded half a galaxy while you were polishing boots in the academy.”

“And yet, you spent the majority of the war imprisoned. A curious outcome for someone of your…self-proclaimed brilliance. Despite your intellect, the Confederacy stands fractured, and the Republic, now flying the banners of Empire, endures. From my perspective, you failed your people when they needed you most.”

“Careful, child. You mistake misfortune for incompetence. A pup who has fought in less than three battles, tell me you know nothing about war without telling me you know nothing about war. A single Jedi is smashing your forces as we speak. Do you think I fell to some clever ruse by the clones?” Tann rolled her eyes, and scoffed at his naivety. 

“I mistake nothing. Chiss leave the Ascendancy only to prepare for existential threats. You had influence, fleets, and Count Dooku’s confidence. That you were captured at all suggests a miscalculation. I have come well prepared for our Jedi friend.” Thrawn steepled his fingers, and smirked. 

Corvus knew that for all these hundreds of TIEs that he was destroying, the real, true objective remained the Infinite Engine. It might seem like a catastrophic defeat was underway for the Empire, but the truth of the matter, he was being stalled. Thrawn's plan was working beautifully. However…Corvus’s actions were also calculated. The Rear Admiral wasn't the only one with a plan. 

Tann, at this point, was seething, and likely had no good comebacks, so Corvus took pity on her, and decided to end this farce. 

“Let’s avoid family matters, shall we? Nar Shaddaa is currently hosting an Imperial occupation force, a Hutt Cartel is massing towards said fleet, and to my immediate concern another squadron is inbound.”

“Always the peacemaker. Even while flying through a kill zone, you manage to annoy me.” Tann exhaled through her nose sharply, then smirked, tilting her head toward Corvus. 

Thrawn inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the point without conceding anything. “Very well. Then let us speak plainly. Jedi Master Corvus, you are stalling. Your ship’s vector suggests you are buying time.”

Corvus looped around a collapsing skybridge, then pulled up hard. “As always, you’re perceptive.” He said, not even trying to deny it. 

Tann tapped a control, and her holo briefly flickered as sensor data streamed past her face. 

“I do so hate being kept waiting, when are you going to enact the plan, Revan.” She flicked her hair, and smugly looked down on Thrawn. 

“My fleet can pacify Nar Shaddaa within the hour. Hutts or no Hutts, your bluff has been called.” Thrawn stated with the assurance of a chessmaster that has already seen every possible move on the board. 

‘Now that's a bold faced lie if I ever heard one. Everyone clowns on the Hutts, but they've had a thousand years to silently accumulate power. And they didn't sign the Ruusan Accords.’ 

Corvus smirked, then sent a pulse through the Force. 

‘Teach him a lesson. Hit that ship, the Executrix, but don't destroy it, merely disable its shields, my boys are operating a stealth mission.’ He sent through the Force Bond. 

‘Heh.’ She responded. In that one word reply, malice, vindication, and pleasure coiled around her psyche. 

Oh, Thrawn was not going to be happy, Corvus thought to himself, barely containing a chuckle. 

“Before you pacify this hive of scum and villainy, you may wish to account for my bombers.” Tann purred. 

As if summoned by her words, several stealth squadrons decloaked in perfect formation, flanking the brand new, shiny Imperial Star Destroyers. 

Thrawn’s eyes widened a fraction, as warning klaxons blared on his end. His fingers strummed across a holographic keyboard, issuing orders, but it was too late. 

“You see, Rear Admiral, Sev’rance doesn’t like being underestimated.” Corvus taunted. 

“And I might just be a bit of a sore loser.” She grinned, releasing heavy ordinance across the fleet's flagship, the Executrix. 

Explosions blossomed along the edge of Thrawn’s formation as shield generators vanished one by one, revealing exposed durasteel plating. One ship had its bridge collapse, whilst another suffered catastrophic weapons failure and had a section near the turrets blow off. 

At the same time, Hutt barges, corvettes, and a handful of capital ships had finally arrived onto the scene, and launched missiles at the Imperial fleet. The attack happened so quickly, so in sync, it was almost as if Tann had coordinated the entire thing to happen all at once. 

“Impressive. Most impressive. Despite having no prior contact with the Hutts, you used them as a distraction, drawing my attention away from where it was needed most.” Thrawn said, furrowing his brows as he actively rearranged his fleet's formation, and redirected a TIE screen to chase down the bombers. 

“I won’t fail again.” Tann said in determination. 

“Then perhaps, you are not the liability you presented yourself to be.” Thrawn inclined his head. 

“Careful, Mitth'raw'nuruodo. That almost sounded like respect.” She grinned. 

One of Thrawn’s brows lifted almost imperceptibly. “Stealth-capable heavy bombers, impressive. The Confederacy diverted considerable resources for that development.”

Tann preened in her seat, as she dodged several turbolasers, and unleashed another salvo into a Star Destroyer's hangar, turning the ships inside into debris. 

“Of course we did. I designed the deployment doctrine myself. A pity I was in a cell while lesser minds were losing battles.”

Thrawn then regarded Corvus thoughtfully. “You are relying on Commander Tann to alter the battlespace. A risky choice. Your alliance is tenuous.”

“Trying to sew discord? Come now, my greatest of adversaries, is that any way to treat a respectable opponent? We three need not be enemies, not when we share a common goal.” Corvus spoke in a whisper, pulling upon his high level Persuade to influence the conversation. 

For the first time, Thrawn smiled, it was small, yet genuine. 

“Touché. Then let us proceed to the heart of the matter. Nar Shaddaa is strategically irrelevant to the Empire, but symbolically valuable. I will not escalate to orbital bombardment…yet.”

“How generous. In return, I won’t gut your destroyers from below while your sensors stare at empty space.” Tann smirked. 

“I know your plan, Thrawn. Do not prevent us from stopping Vader. The Infinite Engine has a hunger that cannot be stopped, and possesses powerful mind controlling properties. Do not be deceived into thinking this is the solution to our mutual foe.” Corvus cautioned. 

“...very well, this is an acceptable stalemate. For now. I shall turn my attention to the Hutts, do not break your word.” Thrawn warned. “Oh, and Revan, do be careful to mind your students.” 

Thrawn smirked, and then cut the call. 

Corvus turned to regard Tann, and he sensed that she 100% was down to double cross Thrawn. 

“Perhaps at a later date. For now, allow me to fill you in on what has happened, and why we must stop Vader at all costs…” 

“Mnn, I like the sound of that. As for myself, I believe I have a date with my ‘little sister.’ It is time that the students of Dooku had one last hurrah, don't you think?” Tann cheekily remarked, and then cut the call. 

Corvus rolled his eyes, and then locked in. The next hour could very well determine the course of this war.