Jedi Insurgency 205

After applying a subtle [Mind Trick] on Madine, Corvus heartily enjoyed the slice of fried bantha, and listened to the famed commando with rapt attention. 

If he had to compare the taste of bantha to anything, it would be sort of close to that of bison, and had a similar texture. It was a welcome addition to his palette, as the food he had ‘stolen’ from Bail Organa's mansion back on Alderaan had long been consumed. Living off of rations, and microwaveable stuff that had been in a freezer for the last couple of weeks, Corvus was pleased to finally eat something fresh. Gnawing on this slice of ‘beef’ he really felt like he was a resident of Star Wars at this moment, and despite adopting this invincible aura as some ancient Jedi, appreciated Madine's professionalism. Everything prepared for this meeting was a solid 10/10, and he couldn't believe one of the top 10 most famous rebels was speaking to him. Just a handful of days ago, he was battling for his life with Darth Maul, now here he was, enjoying a sumptuous feast with a collaborator that he had recruited six months ago. It was wild how time flies by! 

“...and so I have carried out operations on Abraxas, sabotaging ore delivery to Corellia. 

On Fondor, I infiltrated a Techno Union shipyard to make sure the CIS is truly on our side. For now it appears that they intend to play ball, but I am suspicious of their long term goals. I have included a detailed report on this datastick.” Madine succinctly stated, then subtly slid a usb across the table. 

Corvus caught it with ease, and frowned as he tried to recall Fondor. “Hmm, if I am not mistaken, Fondor is behind only Corellia and Kuat in terms of production. To sneak inside, and retrieve this information…that is very impressive, Commander.” Corvus praised with raised eyebrows. 

“A mission like that must have magnaguards, tactical droids, and even assassin droids guarding the installation.” Jax spoke up for the first time since his arrival, very clearly impressed. 

The white haired teen paused in his next bite to stare at Madine with an assessing look. 

“My team are skilled at infiltration. Just another day's work, General.” Madine smartly replied. 

Corvus shared a look with Jax. Perhaps they could use Madine's skills in the upcoming raid? 

“Hmm, don't mind my interruption, Commander, please continue.” Corvus said, eager to learn more about Madine's feats…and eager to take another bite out of his meal! 

“Leveraging your appearance and speech at Naboo, as well as Senator Amidala's return, we made inroads with Inusagi's Daimyo. As a personal friend of the Senator, he promised us a company of his shadow warriors. Their stealth capabilities have proven most useful. I must thank you, General, for your actions caused a positive domino effect.” Madine smiled flatteringly. 

Corvus felt his cheek twitch, and withheld a groan at the mention of that particular woman. 

“Continue.” Corvus curtly replied. 

Madine's confident smile slightly froze in place, clearly the man wasn't expecting the overt praise to touch upon Corvus’s reverse scale. Corvus mused that the man must be silently cursing up a storm. 

“Ahem, with the help of the shadow warriors, we've ambushed three Imperial Army Colonels, and just this last week, kidnapped a Brigadier General along with several other junior officers. After plying them for information, we intend to trade them for our prisoners of war.” Madine continued with his story. 

“You've been quite busy, Commander.” Corvus raised his glass in salute. 

“Yes sir.” Madine clinked his glass, and replied with a repressed yawn. “My apologies for the yawn, General, it's just that these five years of constant war have left me with seldom time to rest. I've conducted 12 raids, and established 8 resistance cells in the past six months, and it's been a struggle to keep up the pace.” 

Corvus could sense that the man was ‘humble bragging’ but also being genuine. Hell, if he had subordinates who accomplished as much as Madine, he'd let them cuss him out! From the sounds of it. Madine was the real insurgent! Performing hit & runs, he was a true rebel. Corvus was willing to bet that one of the reasons why the Empire was so slow to launch a third assault on Eriadu was because this man was busy in the backlines keeping them on their toes! 

Of course, the economy had been thoroughly thrashed due to Corvus’s actions at Galactic Bank, but when a thousand ants gathered, they could slay an elephant. Gathering allies like this was his goal from day one! A loner could've holed up on Tython, grinding exp for the next 15 years, or waited 20 years like old man Obi-Wan did for Luke. But that wasn't his style! Being proactive, facing Palpatine's armies at every turn, that's what a real Jedi should do! Staring fervently at the blonde man, Corvus nodded his head in approval. 

“Asking you to stand with the Republic was one of my finest decisions. You, Commander Madine, have accomplished more than my own private team of commandos.” Corvus praised, realizing he really needed to send the Bad Batch out on more raids. That by traveling with him, he was somewhat wasting their potential. 

For a moment, he imagined a world where he sent Jax with Madine's Raiders, deployed Yon with Crosshair, and then let the rest of CF-99 do their thing. 

“Sorry, General, but my lads only take part in small operations. Your forces have taken entire planets, your words alone have inspired hundreds of millions to actively resist the Empire. When you cured Eriadu of its pollution, and brought water to Tatooine, even I was tempted to find a Jedi Temple, and worship the Force. Before you leave Gyndine, it would mean the world to my men if you could say a few words to them, and shake their hands. I even have a few who are into Jedi'ism that might even defect my ranks, haha.” Madine's smile was electric as he half praised, half begged Corvus to make an appearance, as if he was some sort of movie star. 

Corvus embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. It was one thing to have cultists and brainwashed clone troopers bred for war chanting your name. It was an entirely different thing to know that regular, everyday people thought of him as someone famous. 

‘Good thing I wear a mask everywhere. God knows what kind of creepy fanfiction they'd write if they saw my handsome face standing next to Mr. Princess Killer himself.’ After having this thought, Corvus glanced at his student, and shuddered, choking on a piece of bantha that got caught in his throat. 

“Master?!” Jax said in alarm, as a Force Sensitive choking on food was practically impossible, one could only assume it was poison. 

Madine was half way out of his seat, worry all over his face. 

“MMM, mhhm.” Corvus cleared his throat, and waved his concerned companions down. “Sorry for worrying you two, I was just a little surprised by something is all. Of course I would be happy to meet your team, Commander.” Corvus was swift to move away from this choking incident, and agreed to Madine's request. 

“That'll mean the world to them, thank you.” The blonde commando flashed his pearly whites, and inclined his head. 

“Before we do this meet and greet, however, why don't you inform us about your plans for Gyndine? Although our meeting was coincidental, perhaps Jax and I could fight alongside you this time.” Corvus asked, and then made a suggestion. 

Madine furrowed his eyebrows, and then gently smiled. 

“I don't have the detailed plan on me now, General, but the gist of it is, that Kuat Drive Yards is producing a secret weapon at their research facilities here. Our informant has sent us pictures, and it appears to be some kind of new walker.” Madine explained, and then pulled out a datapad, flicked it a couple times, then showed an image. 

Standing on two legs, and about as tall as a two storey building, the matt grey vehicle was the AT-ST! Aka, the chicken walker! Corvus’s eyes went wide as he saw the design, he was all too familiar with how deadly they could be against infantry. When he played the Battlefront games (both old and new), he could routinely reach the top of the leaderboard piloting one of these babies. Although they didn't come with shields, and were weak to Ewok logs, they could tank small arms fire with ease, and even a rocket or two. 

“Our mission is to confirm the report, and seize data regarding these new vehicles. Dubbed the AT-ST, we speculate they would be much more effective in the narrow street fighting of a megalopolis. Compared to the AT-TE or other large vehicles, its speed shouldn't be slow either. We intend to let our eggheads take this data to find weak points, and see what resources are used in the supply chain, then hit them where it hurts.” Madine said, then flicked his finger on the dataslate, revealing a heavily patrolled factory. 

“Infiltration into such a place seems almost impossible, what's your plan?” Corvus asked, drumming his fingers on the table, he had practically forgotten about dinner as he imagined how difficult entry would be without  stealth. 

“Our informant is a low level technician, and by uploading a virus into a coworkers terminal, we intend to deliberately sound a full alarm at several different times across the day.” Madine replied with a playful smirk. 

“Once they've grown tired of reacting, no one would treat the fourth alarm seriously.” Jax muttered with wide eyes. “It's like the fable of the boy who called Loth-wolf. All the villagers ran to help him when he cried for help, but after he kept yelling, calling his fellow villagers over, they increasingly grew irate when no Loth-wolf made itself known. When a Loth-wolf finally appeared, and was about to eat both him, and his flock, the boy yelled for help, but none of the villagers came to his assistance. You are that Loth-wolf.” Jax retold a story, using the analogy to describe Madine's plan. 

“How ruthless. I approve!” Corvus slapped a fist down on the table in good cheer. 

“I thought so too.” Madine was all smiles at the praise. “But that's only step one in the plan. The day that we plan to carry out this operation is on the day of the eclipse. Gyndine has several moons, and this will be a so-called super eclipse. A strange astrological phenomenon is due to occur that-for fifteen minutes-will completely shroud the planet in darkness. It is during this window of opportunity that we will strike.” 

Corvus clinked glasses with Madine, and then began to slowly applaud the man. No wonder they just so happened to meet at this time on this planet! Not only was the famed super commando carrying out an intelligence raid, but he also had it so thoroughly planned, it made Corvus’s actions on Coruscant appear amateurish in retrospect! 

“I bow my head to the master, you sir, are a true visionary!” Corvus continued to heap on the praise. 

“Indeed, you are a man worthy of Master's respect.” Jax slowly nodded in agreement. 

“Thank you. I'm sure we can find a role for you two in the upcoming assault.” Madine took a satisfied swig of his lum, and said with confidence. 

Corvus steepled his fingers, and wore a mischievous smirk. 

“Oh, I think with me here, we can do much more than simply retrieve the AT-ST's data. With my abilities, destroying half-or more-of the factory isn't impossible.” 

“That's…” Madine paused in his celebration, and frowned. “I don't think we brought enough explosives for that. Getting past the blockade was trouble enough. If we were carrying that kind of ordinance, Imperial scanners would've caught us long ago.” He spread his hands, and sheepishly shrugged. 

Corvus took a vicious bite from a piece of fried bantha, and his grin was all teeth. 

“The eclipse is in what, 3 days? You'll have your explosives, it was a pleasure getting to know you, Commander.” Corvus roughly laughed, stood up, shook the bewildered Commander's hand, and strolled out of the restaurant like he owned the place. 

What was that old saying? Never meet your heroes? Heh! Poor bloke was about to have the Revan Experience™.