Jedi Insurgency 314

“So…what do we do, should we knock?” Hunter asked, scratching the back of his head as he gestured towards the unassuming, round bunker the size of four gymnasiums placed together. 

“Or we cut our way through!” Wrecker excitedly ignited an orange lightsaber. 

“What's the mission, General?” Echo held out a hand to stop Wrecker, and asked. 

“Intelligence reports that this is the location of the science caste's leader, the Scilux. As one of five leading bodies in Umbaran society, I've come today to reason with them, and unite this world under our banner.” Corvus explained. 

“So, uh, diplomacy then?” Hunter wondered aloud. 

“Give them a knock.” Corvus said, raising his chin. 

Hunter cautiously approached a big metal door, and when he rapped his knuckles upon it, a stick-like metal eyeball-like the one at Jabba's Palace that greeted C-3PO & R2 in Episode IV-popped out. It scanned them, and moved around in an alien manner. 

“Jedi Knight Corvus, what do you hope to gain?” A distorted female voice-like something out of a filter or AI generation-spoke out. 

Corvus felt something peculiar in the Force…as if what he was conversing with wasn't entirely human, or what he meant was, it wasn't Umbaran. How peculiar. 

“Cooperation is what I seek. At the very least, I require your neutrality.” Corvus said, folding his arms across his chest. 

“There is a 74.2% probability that this ‘cooperation’ would entail my complete and total surrender. Based upon the data I have collected about you, and the mystic manner of your speeches, should I speak to you in person, there is a 96.7% I would fall for your sorceries.” The female voice drily intoned. 

“Hmm, I had run similar trials myself, her numbers aren't far off.” Tech muttered to himself, eliciting a twitch of Corvus's mouth. 

“Let the General do the talking, Tech.” Hunter whispered. “I've got a bad feeling about this.” 

“What can I do to convince you, honorable Scilux? Already four out of five of the primary castes follow my banner. Are you certain you wish to be the nail that stands out?” Corvus said in a calm tone, yet the threat in his words was unmistakable. 

“The database shows that most Jedi do not threaten as you do. Not even Dooku was so open despite his rebellion. How is it that you accumulated so many allies with a belligerent attitude like this?” Scilux remarked, asking this question more like an academic than one mocking another. 

“Losten, ere, ya bag o bolts, the General can crush ye with but a flick o his fist. So open up, or we're gonna make ya.” Wrecker growled. The big man really wanted to blow something up! 

“Sigh. Violence is the most common denominator as always. How unfortunate. I can see an amenable result is unlikely.” Scilux said sarcastically. 

“I have a genius level computer specialist on hand, an all-rounder genius, and resources aplenty that can aid in your research. We need not be enemies.” Corvus was quick to push back. “If it truly was as you claimed, I would have infiltrated your base, and you wouldn't know I was there until my lightsaber was in your back. We knocked on your front door as a matter of courtesy. Umbara is going to fall in line, this is a fact. Whether you choose to remain neutral, or join the party is something I need to know.”

“There is an 84.54% chance that neutrality would result in inevitable destruction. Therefore, I propose a third alternative.” Scilux said, the hint of something approaching interest-dare Corvus say obsession-entered her voice. 

“You wish to be our enemies?” Hunter asked incredulously. 

“A test. This bunker was never invaded during the 501st's campaign. Reach me in a full frontal assault, and you'll have earned my support.” 

Corvus didn't sense a lie in those words, and nodded his head. “Very well, we shall test your toys.” 

As soon as he said that, a large durasteel door slowly opened up, with the sound of heavy gears churning. What lay before them was a long, all white corridor reminiscent of Kamino's architectural style, and the first turret unfolded from a side wall before the blast door had finished opening.

Its four barrels snapped toward Corvus’s head.

His twin lightsabers came alive with a violent hiss. Three crimson bolts struck the blade and vanished back into the emplacement with ease. As a result, the turret exploded, showering the corridor with fragments of glowing metal.

Then the walls opened up one after another. Dozens of panels slid open, revealing enough automated weapons to turn a trooper into swiss cheese.

“Well, you wanted your training, right?” Corvus asked with a faint smile. “I hope you learned how to block!” 

Taking a step back, Corvus buffed everyone with [Shadow Valor Energy Resistance], and let loose the dogs of war.

Hunter ran past Corvus’s right shoulder, his blue lightsaber held in both hands. His stance lacked a Jedi’s elegance, yet his heightened senses told him where the shots would land before the turrets fired. He caught one bolt, turned his wrists, and sent it into a sensor.  Another bolt passed beneath his arm as he twisted aside, and with his offhand, he drew his laser pistol, and destroyed a gun. Advancing like some swashbuckling pirate wielding a pistol + saber combo, he was a sight to behold. 

Echo moved beside him. Restored to flesh and blood, he fought with a steady calm. His green blade swept forth covering both himself and Tech. Blasterfire struck it in rapid bursts, scattering back through the corridor. One reflected bolt destroyed a turret, and another blew apart the weapon beside it.

Wrecker roared as he sprinted down the middle. [Force Speed] clad this wrecking ball of a man, and he showed no fear, trusting in both his shield & armor. He carried his orange lightsaber like a club, battering bolts aside with enough force to make each impact crack like thunder. A shot slipped through his guard. Corvus lifted two fingers, bending the bolt around Wrecker’s shoulder and into the ceiling.

Wrecker swung again and cleaved an entire turret assembly from the wall. As it exploded in front of him, the big bald man roared in triumph, running towards his next target. 

Crosshair remained behind the others, rifle braced against his shoulder. He fired between Hunter and Echo, each bolt passing within centimeters of a moving lightsaber. Although his brothers were faster now, so was he. Instead of closing with the enemy, he still preferred the calm calculation of sniping. 

Tech lifted one hand while operating his scanner with the other. A turret jerked against its mounting, dragged sideways by an unseen grip, and fired into the weapons across from it. Although it wasn't mechu-deru, he had fused both telekinesis and his own scientific genius. 

Six seconds after the ambush began, the passage fell silent. Molten metal dripped from the walls, and heaps of broken turrets were everywhere. 

As they advanced the blast door at the far end of the hallway leading downward began to descend. Corvus thrust out his hand, caught it in the Force, and held several tons of armored plating above the floor like it was nothing. Then with the squeeze of a hand, crushed it like a soda can beneath a man's boot. 

The Bad Batch sprinted forward as Corvus tossed the broken gate aside like yesterday's trash. Descending into another hallway, the next room was dimly lit, and a poisonous gas began to slowly fill the air. 

“We've got movement! Keep your eyes peeled on the ground and ceiling.” Hunter said, shooting his blaster at the ground. 

Where once it appear there was nothing there, the moment the blue bolt made contact, it revealed a smoking droid the size of a man's forearm. 

Hundreds of tiny red eyes awakened in the dark, before suddenly becoming invisible. 

“They're millicreep assassin droids!” Tech warned. “Their mandibles are strong enough to puncture an AT-TE's armor, and are equipped with camo cloaks.” 

Hundreds of millicreep assassin droids poured from ventilation grates all around them, flooding the area with a dense insectoid click-ity clack sound. Each machine was scarcely longer than a man’s forearm, equipped with hooked legs, injector fangs, and narrow cutting lasers.

“Ugly little things.” Wrecker muttered, swiping around with his blade and barely killing two for each one that latched upon his armor. 

The swarm surged forward in a tide, and the men were forced back. 

Corvus drove his palm toward the floor. A wave of kinetic power struck the droids and flattened the first ranks into metal splinters. Those behind them climbed over the wreckage.

Hunter spun his saber close to the ground, to which Echo mirrored him from the other side, their blades carving burning lanes through the swarm. Wrecker stomped on one, split another in half, and then swept his weapon across the floor, leaving orange-hot marks across the floor. 

A millicreep sprang for Tech’s throat, and a second later, Crosshair shot it out of the air.

“I detected it.” Tech said, disappointed he didn't get the opportunity to slice it himself. 

“You're welcome, brother.” Crosshair grinned, then fired again, making a second droid burst behind Tech’s head.

Corvus advanced through the center of the swarm. Millicreeps leapt at him from every direction, however, they halted in the air around his body, caught within the pressure of his will, until dozens hung suspended like grotesque metallic insects trapped in amber.

He closed his fist, and the entire swarm crumpled. Their remains struck the floor in a rain of twisted legs and ruptured power cells.

The squad passed through a decontamination chamber and entered a row of dimly lit laboratories. Transparent cylinders lined the walls alongside all sorts of scientific doo-dads. Pale shapes floated within violet fluid, revealing Umbaran bodies with reinforced bones, creatures with too many joints, and all sorts of beasts. 

As they were passing by, one creature smashed its face against the glass, and snarled. Corvus-who wasn't too happy about being jump scared-pointed a finger at it, releasing a tiny, lethal bolt of [Shadow Lighting]. 

Going even deeper still, they ended up going down a long, spiraling, vertical shaft as none of them trusted the elevators. It was during this circuitous trek that the first stealth-cloaked soldier ‘revealed’ himself. Before the enemy could shoot, Corvus’s blade passed through his rifle, stabbed into his heart, and then with a flick sliced upward through his mask. 

Green gas full of stimulants leaked from the alien's helm, mixing with the ever present poison gas that was still being pumped into the chamber. As if this death was some sort of signal, more Umbarans dropped from the ceiling one by one. 

Hunter sensed them a heartbeat before they appeared. He pivoted beneath a descending vibroblade and drove his shoulder into the attacker’s ribs. Echo caught another assassin’s wrist, twisted, and used the Force to hurl him into a specimen tank.

As a result a large amount of glass burst onto the floor, spraying the unlucky individual with violet fluid. Perhaps more unfortunate for this Umbaran was the thing inside the tank. It resembled an immense, skinless hound whose spine had been replaced with a pulsing mechanical column. Cables snapped off of its shoulders as it lunged forward, taking a bite from the foe. 

“That one's mine!” Wrecker exclaimed. 

His first strike severed one mechanical forelimb, then when he was going to finish it off, the beast twisted through the blow and slammed into him, driving him halfway across the chamber, and forcing the lightsaber away. When it moved to bite him once again, Wrecker caught its jaws in both hands, and grunted as the tiled floor cracked beneath his boots

Echo extended his hand, lifting the creature’s hindquarters off the floor, whilst Hunter struck low, severing its remaining legs.

Wrecker heaved the monster over his head and threw it down like a WWE wrestler. Tech fired one bolt into the exposed machinery along its spine, making it lose power, and instantly die. 

Just then, Corvus felt a premonition in the Force. Danger. 

“I've got a bad feel-” Hunter got out, then lifted up off the ground, practically weightless. 

Everyone else was the same, as the large spiral cylinder they had been descending had had a release mechanism pressed at some point. In other words, the laboratory dropped, and no one knew how long they had until they hit the bottom! 

The section had been severed from the facility and released into the immense cavern beneath the bunker. Various tanks, bodies, and broken equipment rose from the floor as the unit entered free fall.

Hunter caught a railing, Echo seized Tech’s arm, and Crosshair hooked one boot beneath an overturned console. Wrecker simply punched his hand through the wall and held on.

Through the shattered laboratory windows, the cavern rushed upward around them, revealing kilometers of black stone, glowing fungal veins, maintenance bridges, and distant Umbaran machinery.

Corvus ran up to a wall, and plunged his lightsabers into it. The twin blades traced a burning circle, to which Corvus ripped the cut section inward with the Force, exposing the open cavern above.

“Jump!” Corvus exclaimed, and with little fanfare, left the stunned Younglings behind. 

“Jump where?” Wrecker demanded at the rapidly disappearing white cloaked back of the Order Master. 

“We didn't train for this.” Tech moaned. 

“Kriff it. The General will catch us with if we can't make it, have faith!” Hunter shouted, then, after internally swearing at that sonnuvabitch he called leader, he gathered his courage, and jumped! 

The men of the Bad Batch were quick to follow. Wrecker laughed all the way, whilst Echo had a queasy look on his face. 

The severed hab unit vanished into the depths as they all jumped towards the side wall of the cavern. Several seconds later, a distant impact rolled through the cavern. Barely clinging onto the rock wall, the super commandos grimly looked down, realizing how close they were to death…well, all except Wrecker. 

“Again. Again! Bahaha!” The big man laughed, and thumped a fist against his chest plate. 

“...sir, do we really have to climb all this?” Hunter asked, and pointed upward towards an open hallway of light that must've been at least 10 miles away at the least. 

“No. You can jump up too.” Corvus chuckled, and then began to skip along the side of the wide circular wall like he was jogging up a slanted hill, and not a perfectly vertical shaft. 

“Kriff me.” Hunter grit his teeth, then prepared himself once more. 

‘And to think I volunteered for this!’