Jedi Insurgency 324

Once Jay O-Be had finished his test, Corvus had instructed him to win the election over the next month, and had conveniently swapped protection duty over to another Jedi. 

As for taking him in as a personal disciple like Jax or Yon, he had reservations. Given he was on a galaxy spanning crusade, there was little time to take the King of a planet around to warzones, and covert operations. Especially one as famous as Jay. Instead, he opted to nominally induct the young Zeltron into the Jedi Order, and hoped that maybe one day someone like Obi-Wan could rope the precocious youth in. In the meantime, the bodyguard Jedi Knight could get the teen started with training in the Force. 

Truthfully, Corvus had come to Zeltros because of a feeling in the Force. Hondo just happened to be at the right place at the right time to form this connection. Considering how many pieces were moving around in this conflict, he had little time to be toiling away on the famed pleasure planet for a month or more. 

Therefore, he had departed from the pink-colored world without looking back, hoping that this longshot intervention could secure a powerful military, and cultural alliance. 

Piloting that Umbaran shuttle, there were still several weeks away until Yon's wedding, and he was itching to get some action with the Starcrusher Corp. Over the past week he had spent dithering around between travel & on Zeltros, most of the minor damage done to the fleet had been patched, and they had been assigned to Imperial worlds. 

The 50+ Legion fleet had split up into five different war groups, pressuring Imperial trading lanes, engaging in skirmishes with Imperial Navy forces, and causing trouble throughout the Trellen Trade Route (aka the area between Zeltros & Kashyyyk). Space was incredibly vast, and if a commander traveled everywhere with the full compliment of their fleet, the enemy could raid supply hubs, and destroy the backline in one fell swoop. It was classic military tactics, choke the logistics from the enemy, and the entire force would collapse. 

Fuel, food, men, the Starcrusher Corp needed all of these things. Between all the captured & constructed ships, Corvus was directly in charge of four Legions worth of clones, and tens of millions of Eriaduan volunteers + their transports. 

Spread throughout the stars, they had been moving around the galaxy at his behest. 

Regarding the Eriaduans, there had been news about their homeworld during this time. The recently emerged Prince of Zakuul, and son to Vitiate, Arcann had arrived. And following Corvus's advice, Rahm Kota-who had been dispatched in defense of that world-had challenged the scarred young man to a 1v1 duel, and was informed that Arcann had daddy issues. 

The way Corvus heard it, the middle aged bastard with a foul mouth insulted Arcann seven ways till Sunday, and talked all sorts of trash about his dick-tator of a father, earning some brownie points. By all accounts, Kota had acquitted himself quite well, earning some praise. That this last student of Yoda was, in Arcann's words, ‘no lesser than the Jedi Council of my era.’ 

That said, Kota got his ass handed to him. In fact, Corvus had watched the recording no less than 24 times. Not that he found the scene of Kota flipping ass over end into a puddle of mud amusing, nor did he take vindictive pleasure in seeing him swearing like a Tusken hover-trucker one moment, then have his own cloak stuffed in his mouth, silencing him the next. Jokes aside, Kota had displayed an amazing amount of power, almost as much as what Corvus & Vader had unleashed upon one another during their duel on Coruscant. 

Kota, for all his eccentricities, had learned a lot on Tython, and apparently was in possession of that old green gremlin's holocron. To witness the casual belt-to-ass beatdown was an eye opener on another level. Fortunately, no one died due to this encounter. Furthermore, Kota had a stubborn streak to him, and the tough bastard had refused to give up despite being trounced a dozen times. Beaten, bloodied, and bruised, he had shown the resolve of the Jedi Order to safeguard Eriadu. Arcann respected his actions, and had agreed not to seize Eriadu. At least, not for the time being. 

When Corvus had read that report, and finished watching the HoloRecording for the first time, he could only close his eyes in relief. From there, the Prince of Zakuul had made his intentions clear. Any time the Republic, Empire, CIS, or any other faction made a move on a Neutral Planet, he would conquer a planet belonging to that faction. He had already made good on this promise when a few overeager, corrupt CIS officials had used the conflict between the Empire & Republic to seize a handful of neutral systems. 

Arcann had thus departed from Eriadu, and journeyed into the Galactic South/South West, where he promptly seized Mustafar, and a handful of other planets. This act had kicked off a hornets nest, and the CIS leadership council were calling for blood. 

Personally, Corvus was of the mind to let them squeal, as they had been barely of any use in resisting the Empire these past months. Any CIS action that actually aided him, was at the direct behest of Tann. It was always his intention to eliminate those rogue elements & absorb the useful ones to his cause. But this act of impetuousness only served to remind him of the Confederacy's incompetence. So long as his Evil Blueberry was not under threat, he was more than happy to let them come to loggerheads with Arcann. 

…however, it was revealed that Maul, Ventress, the Dathomiri, Mandalorians, and other neutral worlds were forming a new coalition under Arcann's banner, giving him a massive headache. At this point, Corvus was sorely tempted to say ‘kriff the CIS’ and attempt an alliance with the Prince. 

At the very least, the most egregious member of the leadership council, Nute Gunray, was already dead. There was some potential to hold a coup, and most of the battle droids were using the improved code he had introduced. Much like Palpatine, he had also left a backdoor ‘virus.’ As part of this upgrade, he could, in theory, become the commander of the droids at any time, and have them turn on their creators. However, this would be a last resort/something he held in reserve once he needed to resolve the CIS. For now, with Tann at the helm as Supreme Commander, they would serve as very reluctant allies & pawns. 

All of this had taken place during his time on Umbara & Zeltros. Meanwhile, the election was still underway, and the ‘guests’ for the wedding still had to arrive. Intelligence reports were coming in that there was Imperial movement, but most of it was hush hush. And if they did receive any concrete information, Corvus suspected it was leaked on purpose. When dealing with Thrawn, one could not be too careful. 

Three weeks remained until the trap was sprung, and in that time he had identified several objectives that would secure the trade route between Umbara & Zeltros. As he had desired to fight alongside the Starcrusher Corp, he had found three targets to engage with. 

Number one was Axion. A fortress world loyal to the CIS, it was a major research planet, hosting the Colicoid alien species. In other words, those were the race of people that designed the droideka, Buzzdroids, and Tri-Fighters amongst many other items. 

According to the many, many reports he read, Axion was currently under attack by a probing force. So close to Umbara, no doubt Thrawn wanted to see what kind of response Corvus would reply with. Doubtlessly the genius Chiss wanted to draw Corvus's attention away from some other ‘more important’ theater. The blue-skinned alien would likely lose an expeditionary fleet at the cost of some ‘insignificant’ gain. 

However, knowing that revealing himself in person for this ‘small gain’ on Axion would fall into Thrawn’s hands, Corvus figured it was worth it to get his hands on some CIS tech. Whilst he was there, he intended to not only shmooze with the Colicoids that he would rescue, but also conveniently create/upload some code for those droid models. And if the entire planet's stock of droideka, and tri-fighter droids just so happened to join the Starcrusher Corp, who could complain? 

And, and, what if he just so happened to collect all the waste & junk on that world, then converted it into Beskar armor. The plates could go to the Eriaduan volunteers…and perhaps even fitted to several droideka. Just imagining those rolling balls of death tanking everything short of a turbolaser was like a wet dream come true. Anyone who had played a Star Wars game set in the Clone Wars era understood how toxic droideka were, and how much of a buff this would be. 

Furthermore, tri-fighters already had pretty brutal programming. Upgrading them with his high Computer stat, and possibly building a few dozen out of Beskar would be sure to give the Imperials a surprise. 

At the end of the day, kicking off the Imperial taskforce would be easy, and would see him walking right into Thrawn’s trap. But little would the blue man know, that Axion would be like a loot box waiting for Corvus to open. 

Besides this CIS held world, he had two other targets in mind to attack before the wedding on Umbara. One was Merson. Located between Zeltros & Ambria, it was a planet dedicated to piracy, raiding, and illicit deals. Working with Prince Xizor's Black Sun gang covertly, and Admiral Hondo openly, Corvus intended to seize this raiding hub, and finally make good on his promise to the Weequay. 

For so long he had been dangling that Pirate King moniker, yet he had never believed. Corvus was a man who deeply believed in following through with his promises. He had given his word that Jax would have new arms, that Omega would have a teacher, that the clones would be cured of their rapid aging, that Xizor would become leader of the Black Sun, that he would rescue Windu. 

If he was to take his role as Order Master seriously, one of the most important things-at least in his mind-was being true to his word. Developing a high-trust society was his goal, and this level of trust must be reflected from the top down. 

Therefore, he was going to fully seize a planet for the future Pirate King, and even hand that suave womanizer a crown upon his brow. Although knowing the cheat, he'd probably prefer a Zeltron's lace more than some fancy piece of metal. Corvus had a wry smile on his face at the thought, yet was serious regarding his intentions. Hondo had done so much for him, and could be credited with saving the ground elements of the First Legion of the Starcrusher Corp. Marshal Pots would certainly be dead if not for his efforts. 

This time, he was determined to seize Merson! 

Lastly, during this three week last minute time crunch, was an ‘insignificant’ Imperial world known as Neutra Four. Full of warehouses, repair yards, and a handful of starfighter bases, it was a decent supply hub, and potential staging ground for Imperial forces. It wasn't anything significant, and in fact, had thus far largely stayed out of the conflict. However, due to its relatively close distance from Umbara-less than a day away by Class I hyperdrives-it would be quite the convenient location for any secretive Imperial fleets to camp out at before or after an attack planned for the wedding. 

Call him paranoid, but Corvus wasn't willing to leave the ‘harmless’ world unattended when Thrawn was plotting around behind his back. Currently, Neutra Four was due to have its planetary shields pierced after another two weeks of bombardment. By then, he'd have a week to take care of business, and then the Umbaran wedding was bound to happen. 

Nodding to himself, Corvus started to have his ship exit hyperspace above Axion. As soon as he emerged into realspace, he was just in time to witness two taskforce fleets duke it out in a 10 vs 10. 

Elections, wedding plots? Bah! Enough scheming, it was time for some war!