Jedi Insurgency 294

After settling the strategic vision of the Order with the rest of the High Council-including but not limited to diplomacy, war, logistics, training, personal development, etc-Corvus was ready to set out. 

Before he left on the Millennium Falcon, ‘thank you Master Yoda’ he bumped fists with Windu, and found Jax meditating in the healing hall. 

The white haired teen was hard at work studying an ancient manuscript. His focus was so intense, a swirling green halo of light slowly rotated behind him. For all intents and purposes, he should be able to restore his arms. However, Corvus felt like the Echani boy had something of a mental block. Sort of what Vader had. Although crippled, Vader was only truly as weak as he was due to his own self loathing, and doubt. At least, those were the inner thoughts of Palpatine, and Corvus happened to agree with them. He believed a similar circumstance weighed upon his own student. 

For all his brilliance, insight, foresight, wisdom, courage, and many more platitudes, Jax was a rather insular young man. One who-dare Corvus say-thought too much. Back on Earth, Corvus had several friends who were deeply autistic. Brilliant people with incredible memories, and minds for mathematics. However, the pair of friends he had, constantly had their brains wired to go. Thinking was what they were good at, but also, from his perspective, it was sometimes something of a burden. 

He worried that even having surpassed his trauma, the boy was constantly thinking about how to prevent such a thing from occurring in the future. A severe aura coated Jax like an icy shroud. Although the halo of green brought healing, it also carried a biting edge to it, kind of reminding Corvus of the strong sensation of say a particularly potent mint. Ultimately, mints were perceived as good things, but when overly potent, they could stun the senses, and cause other negative effects. 

Dropping the halo, Jax looked up from the text, and nodded. “Master.” He then rose to get up, only for Corvus to push his shoulder down. 

Joining his student in sitting on the cool stone floor, Corvus lovingly squeezed the shoulder of this son of his, then sighed. 

“I worry about you, Jax.” Corvus said in an overly sentimental tone. 

“Why is that?” Jax asked, his wintery blue eyes stared at his masked visage with curiosity, and a thirst for knowledge. 

There were no frowns, defensive posture, or attempt to segway the conversation into something else. No. Jax was direct, earnest even. Between men, this was the most valued type of conversation. And yet, this quest for knowledge, this blind faith in Corvus’s own word…for a lad who questioned everything, but held his word as gospel. A Master or father should enjoy such a high regard, but Corvus could sense it. The lingering attachments, those sinister intonations on the periphery. Somewhere, sometime. Jax had touched upon the Darkside. 

“...there is a wildness to you, Jax. Yet you contain it with a degree of calm that others your age would struggle to maintain. For this, I am proud of you. However. This urge to protect, I see in you that it has become an obsession.” Corvus slowly got out, carefully choosing his words so that he did not damage his student's psyche. 

Jax closed his eyes, briefly taking a moment to digest these words. As he did, Corvus stared out a wide open window the size of a great church's door, and listened to the birds. 

“Master. You have taught me to protect the weak, the innocent, and the just. I have only ever strived to live up to those expectations. If I have erred, please instruct me.” Jax said, bowing low from his cross-legged seat on the ground, like some supplicant from afar. 

Corvus stared at the white haired teen with a complicated look in his eye, struggling to find a solution to this thorn pricking upon his consciousness. The genuineness that Jax exuded was real, and his aura stabilized. He said what he meant, and meant what he said. 

“You are. Truly commendable.” Corvus eventually got out, and slowly stood up, wiping away the dust that accumulated on his cloak with the swipe of a hand. 

Jax was quick to stand up, and bow once more. “You over praise me, Master. I am but your Shadow.” 

“Cheeky brat.” Corvus smiled, ruffling his hair, but was soon to become solemn once more. “The Council has a mission for you.” 

“I will do my best. None in the Order shall find fault with Master Revan due to the negligence of his student.” Jax resolutely stated. “At least, not the one who was Knighted first.” 

Seeing the playful glimmer in Jax's icy blues, Corvus rolled his eyes. Stoic as Jax may be, that didn't change the fact that he was rivals with Yon. 

“You and a small strike team consisting of Zork, Linyin, and the other recently promoted Knights will travel to Caamas, and reinforce King Organa.” Corvus explained. “There are many interdictors blocking the hyperspace lanes in that area, so your ability to make your ship invisible shall be crucial for running the blockade.” 

“Mn. Then I shall assemble the team at once. As the Council commands.” Jax nodded once more, and performed a Jedi salute. 

“Go then. Keep yourself safe.” Corvus said, feeling reluctant to send his student off, wishing he could take him along to Kuat. 

“I will make you proud, Master.” Jax said, then hurriedly departed. 

“You already have, son, you already have.” Corvus said, whispering to himself. 

Lost in thought, he put his hands on the stone awning of the window, and idly looked out into the distance. 

“Is it hard being the Order Master?” An innocent, girlish voice asked from behind. 

Emerging from a side chamber in the healing hall, a blonde little tan girl with a space-Kiwi accent asked. 

“Indeed. As much as I hate being melodramatic, the weight of the universe weighs upon my shoulders. Every decision impacts the lives of billions.” Corvus said without turning around, presenting his back to her. 

“Then if you could go back, and done it again, would you have left me on Kamino? Would you have preferred to have gone marauding across the galaxy as a secret healer?” The girl asked. 

Corvus felt the questions pierce deep into his soul like barbed arrows. Scrunching his fists upon the windowsill, he happened to see the Younglings giving Obi-Wan a hard time, and a smile curled upon his lips. 

“No. No, I don't think I would change a thing.” Corvus warmly smiled. 

“Not even. Not even what you did to Triss? Bringing her back, failing to recognize her betrayal, and not giving her the attention she deserved?” 

The question was full of cold, hard truth, and felt like a stack of bricks thrown to the face. Turning around, he faced the girl, and saw that she was one part curiosity, one part fear, and one part emboldened. 

‘Am I so frightening in the eyes of a child?’

“I have made you suffer, Omega, haven't I?” Corvus asked, pity coloring his voice. 

The girl silently nodded, with tears slowly dripping down her cheeks. 

“I apologize. War is no place for a child. I truly have…sinned.” Corvus slowly got out. 

His dream. His goal. It was to reform the Jedi. To be and act like the Je'daii of old. And yet as much as he wanted to keep children away from the front lines, as much as he tried to keep Omega and Triss away…he had failed. 

Perhaps this is why Jax is so obsessed? 

“Thank you for the kind words, Mister Revan, but it isn't me you should be apologizing to.” Omega said, shaking her head. The child's voice was low & sad as she glanced out the window. 

Down there in the field, amongst the Younglings were a group of five 13 year olds. Grumbling, and trying not to swear up a storm as they lifted blocks with their minds, and stumbled over basic training, the men of the Bad Batch were having a ripe old time learning the Force. 

Ripped from their lives on Kamino, the brothers had given their everything to secure Omega's future. Now, thanks to Corvus, they had been shoehorned into the Jedi Order. Of course any Jedi could leave whenever they wanted…but he knew them. Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, Tech, even Crosshair, they were loyal to the end. 

For what he did to them, keeping promise after promise, going all the way to this point, loyalty wasn't even a question anymore. Brotherhood may have been a means at first, a convenient stepping stone to secure the most lethal black ops unit in the galaxy. Now, it had become the cornerstone of their relationship. Their greatest reliance & strength…and the strongest chains that bound them together. For the longest time, Corvus knew. Where he led, they would follow. 

Watching Hunter swear up a storm down below as Wrecker accidentally [Force Exploded] a tree, sending wood chips lodged into his ass cheek, Corvus could only chuckle. 

Shaking his head, he then looked down at Omega once more. “When did you grow to be so smart?” 

“Probably when ma Master Shaak Ti taught me all the things Mister Revan was s'posed to.” Omega said in a girlish voice, then ran away. 

Corvus raised an eyebrow in surprise at her quick getaway. Of course he could halt her in place, or stop her retreat, but he wasn't some control freak or monster. He thought his Persuade was pretty good, but who knew the one who could best see past his Bantha shit was a little clone girl? 

After contemplating by the window for a few more minutes, he was about to depart, when Hunter came staggering in. 

“Oh, General, didn't see ya there!” Hunter saluted, withholding a grimace of pain. 

“Captain. Can I help you with that?” Corvus asked. 

“Ah, this old thing? It's but a flesh wound!” Hunter waved off, trying to appear like the blood slowly coagulating down the back of his pants wasn't a bother. 

“Is that right? You must be here to let Omega treat you, she needs the practice.” Corvus said with a nod, speaking in a manner that ended the conversation. 

“Something like that.” Hunter agreed. “Say, General, about what we said at the campfire, we're ready to go! Take us to Illum, and give us one of them fancy laser sticks.” 

“Hmm, you don't appear ready to leave the Temple, Youngling, much less try your luck with a lightsaber.” Corvus said dismissively, truly turning to leave. 

Omega was right. The best gift he could give those guys was more time off. With their super fast aging cured, and a dedicated trainer in Obi-Wan, these guys would be as good as seasoned Padawans by this time next year. 

“General, sir! Please. The brothers are itching for some action, don't leave us behind.” Hunter practically stumbled forth, grasping at the hem of his robe. 

Corvus caught a glimpse of the man out of the corner of his eye, and sighed. Those chains of Brotherhood worked both ways it seemed. Sorry, not sorry, Omega, but your big bros belong to me now~. 

“Wipe that sorry look off your face, soldier. You're a Jedi now for Force-sake, act with some bloody decorum!” Corvus demanded. 

“Aye, sir!” Hunter saluted loudly, a gleam in his eye as he knew where this was going. 

“Hmph, now wipe that lewd grin off your face. We depart in three hours. Now get healed, and get your shit together.” Corvus ordered. 

“Sir!” Hunter stood straight to his tallest height. 

However, when the keen smelling commando held that posture, it exacerbated his wound, and when Corvus was about to step forward to catch him, a red-skinned woman came onto the scene, grabbing him and taking him to the side. 

“This is the third time today. Look what you've done to yourself. How can you do something like this, and expect to set a good impression on your sister?” Shaak Ti said in a rapid fire tone of voice. 

“Not my fault, ma'am. Another act of friendly fire, I'm afraid. But I can tough it out, us super commandos are built different, literally.” Hunter humble bragged. 

“Honestly.” Shaak Ti shook her head, then right then and there, stripped off his trousers, removed the wooden splinters, and placed her cool, green-glowing healing hands directly on Hunter's ass-cheeks. 

Corvus felt like his world view shifted. ‘Wait, did she say three times?!’

Hunter gave him a wink, then yelped a second later as Shaak Ti was none-to-kind removing a particularly long splinter. 

Shaking his head, Corvus murmured his goodbyes to the two of them, departing for the hangars. 

Never in his wildest dreams would he imagine Sir Smells'alot would fall for Red Hot Cinnamon Momma!