Jedi Insurgency 213

The walker took one more step, and nearly collapsed.

Its ruined leg shrieked under the strain, pistons misfiring as the entire frame dipped forward before catching itself with a jarring, bone-rattling impact. Smoke poured upward in thick, oily plumes, curling around the warehouse's shattered ceiling lights.

As the smoke from the blaster fire, and damaged ferrocrete cleared, calm once more returned to the battlefield. 

From the far end of a corridor leading into the warehouse, a squad of Rebel commandos emerged in tight formation. Blasters raised, their movements were professional as they checked every corner for movement. One rebel held a motion tracker, whilst another held a scanner searching for life signs. 

At their head strode Crix Madine, his expression hard and focused. Glancing at a pair of corpses slumped to the side, he sighed before moving on. 

When he saw what had been done to the enemy, he paused in his step, stunned at the carnage that had unfolded whilst he was away securing the prisoners. The corridor was a graveyard. Scorched walls, melted plastoid, and the blackened remains of an Imperial company were scattered about like broken pieces of a children's playset. 

Behind him, several commandos exchanged glances. Some were in awe, others clutched their blasters tightly to their chests wondering how they would have fared against that mechanical monster. A pair of them ushered forward a group of disheveled Imperial scientists, their hands bound, their faces pale with shock. Even they stared, wide-eyed, at the devastation.

“Damn, I missed it!” The short, black haired teen, Yon scowled from behind. 

Pushing a hover sled full of unconscious scientists stacked upon one another like laundry, the Jedi Commander was irate, but Madine barely registered the teen's words. 

“General…” One commando muttered under his breath. “Is this what we'll be up against once the Empire resumes production?” 

“Yes. All the more reason why we must study its weak points." Madine replied quietly.

“Heh. Don't be so alarmed. It's only so powerful because of who the pilot is.” Yon said from the side, smug confidence oozed from each word. 

Madine frowned. He didn't like braggarts…but he couldn't deny the results! 

The AT-ST shifted again, metal grinding as it barely sat itself down. Then the cockpit hatch burst open with a hiss of venting steam.

Corvus stepped out, glanced down at them, and then fluttered down from the walker as if he were moving in slow motion. Cloak waving in the wind, it was as if every shadow in the room briefly bent towards him, bowing towards their sovereign. As he dropped lightly to the ground, smoke curled around him, framing his silhouette in the aftermath of destruction, and ever so slightly obscuring his form.  

For a moment, no one spoke. The Mandalorian mask gleamed in the low-light setting, and Madine's mouth went dry. Instincts honed across a hundred battlefields, and countless near death experiences were screaming at him that what he was looking at right now was a beast. An animal that could tear him apart as easily as a Rancor tearing into a hoverbike. 

Madine straightened instinctively, and saluted-despite his orders not to salute-Revan was just that impactful. 

“General.” He said, voice steady despite the weight of what he had witnessed. “The facility is secured. All primary research staff are in custody. Minimal casualties on our end.”

Revan inclined his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over the commandos, then the prisoners, then the ruin behind him.

“Well done.” He said, and then with several waves of his hand, a green glow suffused everyone present. 

A second later, the wounds of any wounded knit together, and miraculously, the dead gasped, rising from the ground! 

Madine's eyes went wide, and several people suddenly took a knee as if worshipping this masked man. 

“Praise the Force.” One commando whispered in disbelief, clutching his resurrected friend with tears in his eyes. 

“Woah buddy, back up, that's kinda ga-” The resurrected soldier got out, but was slapped upside the head by the girl who had a crush on Revan. 

“Idiot! Say thanks to the General for saving your dumbass!” She sassed. 

“Huh? I was dead?” The commando went crosseyed, and looked down to see a burnt circular hole piercing the clothing on his chest. 

“So the rumors were true.” Madine whispered to himself, watching the interplay between his troops in disbelief. 

Madine studied Revan for a moment, something almost like worship gleamed in his eyes beneath his professional composure. Six months ago, he had witnessed Revan's power. 

This was greater than he could have ever possibly imagined. Following such a man…he had no regrets! 

“You’ve done what you came here to do. Take your people. Take the scientists. Leave before the Empire realizes how much they’ve lost.” Revan slowly spoke, breaking Madine out of his thoughts. 

“Transports are staged and ready. We can be gone within minutes.” Madine was quick to reply, taking out a blinking communications device. 

“Good.” Revan stepped aside, giving them a clear path through the wreckage, and saluted everyone present. “May the Force be with you.” 

“May the Force be with you.” Many commandos replied. Even the non-believers silently saluted back, respecting the man even if they disagreed with the religion. 

The commandos then began moving immediately, escorting the stunned scientists past the smoking remains of the battlefield. Some of them couldn’t help but glance at Revan as they passed by, measuring him, reassessing him.

Madine lingered, a hesitant look was upon his face. 

“You’re not coming with us?” He asked hoping he could spend more time picking the famed General's mind. 

Revan’s gaze shifted elsewhere. For a moment, it felt like the Jedi's mind was half a galaxy away. His shadow rippled, and roiled beneath him for but an instant. The super commando noticed this, but didn't dare interrupt him. 

“Not at the moment.” Revan eventually replied, giving him a meaningful look. 

Madine exhaled slowly. “Then what’s next?”

A faint, knowing look touched Revan’s expression.

“Coruscant.”

Madine blinked.

“Then we passed your test?” Madine repressed a wolfish grin, and maintained a humble expression. 

Revan nodded once.

“A raid is to take place within the next 14 days.” 

Madine’s mind raced as he heard those words. Logistics, risk analysis, possible targets, his own informants. All this info and more raced through his mind all at once. Coruscant had been labeled off limits. Intel reports had been spread, Palpatine was an evil Jedi more powerful than Mace Windu. Everyone with clearance had seen Master Windu solo the droid army on Onderon some years back. But now, with a Jedi of their own it was time to enter the lair of the beast!

It was audacious. Dangerous. Exactly the kind of operation the Rebellion needed.

“Gather those you trust. Commandos. Specialists. People who can move fast and think faster. My subordinate will have ships ready within the night.” Revan leaned in close, and whispered. 

Madine stood at attention, and stared into the lens of that mask with a fiery conviction. 

“Yes, sir.”

Revan inclined his head again, then turned away, already moving deeper into the facility’s shadows, as though the destruction behind him no longer mattered.

“Keep it up, Commander Madine! Master has placed his faith in you. Don't disappoint him.” The young man grinned. “Welcome to the team!” Yon said before running after Revan like a kid afraid he'd lose his parent at the mall. 

Behind him, the ruined AT-ST finally gave out. With a deafening crash, it collapsed in on itself. By this point, it was nothing more than a smoking heap of scrap.

Madine watched it fall, feeling that this was a good sign. That the Empire's collapse was only a matter of time. 

Then he looked back to where Revan had stood a second ago. 

“Coruscant, huh?” He murmured.

And then he turned, already barking orders as his unit moved to depart, carrying with them prisoners, intel…and the knowledge necessary to build AT-ST's of their own! 

~~~~~~~

Departing from the battlefield, Corvus moved without hurry, his cloak settling around him as he stepped beyond the perimeter of the Kuat Drive Yards complex. Smoke still rose faintly in the distance, but here, beyond the industrial sprawl, there was only open air and the faint rustle of wind through sparse greenery.

Sensing his white haired student, he had sent Yon back to the Falcon, and had now found himself at a park. A small refuge within the city, such a place filled with nature was exactly where someone like Jax would go. 

A total eclipse hung overhead, and the world of Gyndine was dim, washed in cold twilight. Shadows stretched long and unnatural across the ground, blending into one another like ink spilled across a canvas.

Corvus slowed his steps, and watched on as several blue Force ghosts conversed with the boy. He sensed that unlike Obi-Wan or Yoda, they weren't long for this world. Their appearance was temporary, pulled upon this world due to this extraordinary celestial phenomenon. 

They surrounded a single kneeling figure at the center of the clearing. The young Knight was motionless with his head bowed, and shoulders tense. His hands rested on his knees, but they trembled faintly. 

The instant Corvus arrived, the eclipse began to break. Light spilled from the atmosphere. At first it was a trickle, then it came cascading down like water from a stream. The shadows recoiled, retreating as warmth returned to the world.

The ghosts flickered in place, and one by one, they began to fade away. 

Corvus remained silently solemn throughout the entire ordeal. These should be the people Jax had lost across the Clone Wars, and during Order 66…he'd let the boy have his moment. Just as he had this thought, six of the pale-blue ghosts raised their lightsabers, and forming a ring, placed them upon Jax's shoulders. Eyes going wide, Corvus recognized these six as the Jedi Masters who were fighting Exar Kun in the vision he had the other day! 

A pulse echoed in the Force, as they performed this strange ceremony. 

“Go. Fulfill the prophecy. May the Force be with you.” 

The Jedi spoke as one, then disappeared. 

Tears dripped down Jax's face, and he looked up towards the heavens. The faint, distant cry of a Zilo beast sounded across the city. People unconsciously stopped their merriment from the Super Eclipse parties, and subconsciously wept, unknowingly feeling a sense of great loss. 

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Corvus approached quietly, his boots barely disturbing the grass. He stopped a few paces behind his student, and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. 

“My master. The others…we trained together. Ate together. Argued about stupid things.” A hollow breath escaped him. “And then they were just…gone. I wasn't strong enough to protect them.”

Corvus said nothing.

Jax swallowed hard, and stared down at his mechanical hands. 

“They are proud of you, Jax. Their love for you is why you were brought here.” Corvus softly intoned. 

Jax looked up, and Corvus took off his mask, meeting his eyes.

“The Force does not preserve life without purpose. Survival is not a failure. It is a responsibility.” Corvus patted him, then took a step forward to look down into a sunlit pond. Various fish swam about, and a flock of baby ducks swam quacking behind their mother happily. 

Jax’s expression wavered, caught between grief and something else. 

“They felt…at peace. They told me. They told me to live.” 

Corvus nodded slightly.

“Then honor that.”

Jax exhaled slowly, the tension in his shoulders eased a fraction. 

“I don’t know how to let it go.” Jax sighed. 

“You don't have to. I saw for myself on Nar Shaddaa the strength of your conviction.” Corvus took off a glove where he had been scarred by the [Shadow Wrath State]. His skin was now smooth, and healed, yet a deliberately left behind scar remained. 

“You carry those memories. Their weight is not a burden, but a blessing. Your past is the sum of everything you are. The future is still within reach. My brilliant student, you are so young, yet have suffered so much. Brave, courageous, your heart is full of love.” Corvus said, pulling some food scraps from his inventory, he tossed them at the ducks. 

Jax was silent for a time, and remained kneeling. 

The sunlight grew stronger now, fully breaking free of the eclipse. Warmth returned to the clearing, washing away the last traces of unnatural shadow.

Jax closed his eyes briefly.

When he opened them again, something had changed. An invisible, steady weight seemed to press down upon his shoulders. It wasn't anything uncomfortable, like a training weight one might lift to grow stronger, he saw this as an opportunity for the future. 

“Okay.” Jax said quietly in acceptance. 

Corvus inclined his head, satisfied that his student seemed steadier after today's events. For a moment, they simply stood there together in the returning light.

Then, Jax glanced at him. “So…what now?”

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Corvus’s lips, and he offered a handful of duckfeed. Jax let out a small breath, one that was half laugh, half disbelief.

“Yeah. Alright. Let’s do it.” Jax chuckled, and began to leisurely toss tiny food scraps into the pond alongside his Master. 

The wind moved through the park once more, gentle now, carrying with it the last echoes of what had been.

And this time, Jax did not look back.

As for Corvus, he relaxed his mind, because this might be the last time he could chillout for a while. 

Next stop, Coruscant.