Jedi Insurgency 326

Unleashing [Shadow Valor Battle Meditation] upon the disabled enemy craft, it took about an hour until the most of the Imperials onboard cracked. 

The debuff wasn't impossible to resist, and whilst most people lost their nerve, or became more clumsy under its affects, they didn't stop functioning or become catatonic. Of course, there were outliers on both spectrums. Perhaps a hundred people instantly broke down, going full on fetal, whilst those with stronger wills, or some of the people who had gone full on chip in the brain weren't so easily swayed. With less than a hundred people on one of the Venator's still resisting, the Starcrusher Marines who focused on boarding parties made short work of them. 

Unfortunately for Corvus, none of these supporting kills netted him any exp. At this late stage, where he was at level 40, and needed 10,000,000 exp to advance, each and every little bit helped. Previously, he had been relying on disabling mines & the Path of the Jedi quest to meet all his needs. By now, the mine trick was barely worth it, whilst completing the quest was tedious. 

However, the war had transitioned to a new stage. Previously, only clones & droids were deployed to the front. Legions consisted of about a million combatants, and often spread themselves out across a planet to hit strategic locations. Now, however, both the Empire & Republic were recruiting volunteers wholesale. 

‘Just’ a strike force with 10 cruisers escorted enough transports to deploy five million Imperial Army regulars. If an average clone trooper-an elite soldier-netted him about 250 exp, he wondered how much these guys would grant him? 

In the past, Corvus didn't have the capabilities, or the confidence to solo more than a battalion at once. However, with no air support, advanced cyborgs, or Dark Adepts, he didn't fear this army one little bit. Thrawn might count this as a pyrrhic victory, being pleased that Corvus had been delayed on Axion for a week. 

Corvus, however, was like a shark released at an all you can eat, baby seal buffet. Although he didn't consider himself a murder hobo, and would accept offers of surrender, he was also a military combatant. Treating others with kiddie gloves when you held all the power was how you idiotically lost. One only needed to look at the USA's post WW2 foreign adventures to see how holding back could turn out. 

Typing up his Marshal's contact info, he saw an image of Pots sitting in a LAAT going down to meet the enemy. 

“In the first wave, are we? Come on, Pots, you're too valuable for me to lose like that.” Corvus said with both a wry smile full of pride & admonishment. 

“Empire hasn't got me yet. Besides, General, with the enhancements you gave us, my pilot can react to even the best AI targeting.” Pots laughed. “What can I do for you, sir?” 

“Landfall in five minutes.” The pilot in the LAAT said. 

Corvus saw the image become staticky, and lurch from side to side, but the audio remained stable. 

“...I should have contacted your adjutant.” Corvus sighed, shaking his head. “Anyway, send me the coordinates of where the largest deployment of Empire troops are located.” 

“Heh. That's where I'm headed right now. A mega-factory 100 stories tall, spanning 30 miles is my target. Can't say I want to fight in a factory hellscape so soon after the Kuat campaign, but it is what it is. Here's my flight path, and some information regarding the overall situation.” Pots said, typing away. 

Corvus received a map detailing the factory layout, the Imperial landing forces spreading out like ants in an underground colony, and Pots's plan of attack. From the looks of things, it was quite ingenious, using all sorts of methods to cut off enemy comms, and pump regions full of gas. 

“Very good, soldier, I can see that your experience is being put to good use.” Corvus said with some appreciation. No one disliked having skilled talents under their command. 

“It's my duty, sir. I only wish all our brothers lived long enough to see it through.” Pots said in a lowered voice. 

“We'll all link up within the Force one day, Marshal.” Corvus replied comfortingly. 

“Even for us clones, sir? Some say we don't have souls, that the Force is just some higher form of science.” Pots questioned-now on a private channel speaking through his helmet-somewhat downcast. 

“I've brought back many clones through the Force. Ask them when you get a chance.” Corvus advised. 

“Sure enough, the General is always right.” Pots chuckled, improving his mood. 

“That he is.” Corvus grinned, referring to himself in the third person. “Now the General has more orders for you. I want most of the men sent to eliminate this large enemy contingent to form a perimeter, and focus on saving the locals. That, or redeploy to other theaters of war here on Axion.” 

Pots looked conflicted for a moment, and Corvus could sense through the hologram that he really wanted to get back on the saddle, and blast some bad guys. But professionalism won out in the end. 

“Yessir. Happy hunting.” Pots saluted. 

“Cheer up, Marshal. You'll get to test out your newfound enhancements today. Just go put out one of the smaller fires.” Corvus said in a cheeky tone of voice. 

“There's just no winning with you, sir.” Pots sighed, the hint of a smile in his tone of voice. 

Corvus chuckled in response. 

“Don't get cocky because I'm here, now, ya hear me?” Corvus wagged his finger, then shook his head. “Revan out.” 

Ending the conversation, he had followed the coordinates, and during their talk, had found the largest concentration of troops. 

Right now, there were only a few thousand still on the surface, as the rest had gone to ground in fear of being targeted by the turbolasers. Standard military doctrine in highly urbanized settings like this dictated that one should always seek to move deeper. Of course, it was also common sense to hide in a building, especially when the enemy had big ass laser guns pointing down. 

Landing the invisible stealth Umbaran ship on top of some roof, Corvus applied all of his buffs to himself, sans [Shadow Wrath State], and began the slaughter. 

The venue he found himself in was a large landing pad next to the factory. Large Imperial transports were contently being unloaded from. Dozens of soldiers were using hoversleds to move crates full of ammo, food, and medical goods. Meanwhile, many guards were warily looking around, whilst many others were slacking off, relying upon drones & other sensors to pick up enemy movement. In short, this contingent of nearly all Human people were Imperial Army regulars. Aka, FREE GAME. 

Wearing a white robe that fluttered with his enhanced speed, and the mask of Revan, he was like a blur of red, white, and blue. Twin bars of super hot plasma sliced & diced into a man carrying an ammo crate, flowed into another smoking at a sentry gun, transitioned into a group of five lounging around a broken snack machine, then swept into the back of a woman loading her power pack into her gun. 

Dancing like water, fast as light, and sharp as a bullet to the skull, he was a harbinger of death. By the time he had slain a squad of people unloading the crates, toppling a hover sled of blood bags, and removed all of those people in the center, those guards posted on the periphery finally noticed something was amiss. 

Ten seconds had passed, 100 soldiers were diced to pieces, or had one fatal backstab in the head/chest, and the first shot had been fired. A red bolt passed through the air where Corvus had been, and then he reemerged from the sniper who was on a tower, ending him with a casual flick of the wrist. 

Watching the roughly 2,000 people down below try to scatter, flee deeper into the complex, or run onto the five transports present, Corvus centered his thoughts in Pause, then acted. Facing the transports that were all lined up in a row, he lifted both of his hands. 

[Shadow Force Push Lightning] 

A wave of shadowy tendrils like a ball of snakes spawned into existence, and came crashing down with a mighty crack. The first transport was overwhelmed, and like a boat upon rough seas was completely enveloped, disappearing into the ground, and swallowed by the shadowy plasma weight, crumpling flat like a tin can. The push was more like a wave, and buoyed that crushed can forward, slamming it into the next ship, where they merged into two crushed tin cans. Crumbling, and condensing further, this disc of metal was propelled by the lightning to spin, whilst the push enhanced its momentum. 

Those remaining three transports were spared from the AOE of the Force power, as the first two ships had acted as a shield. However, that disc was not done. Slicing forward like the world's strongest power saw, it was coated with shadowy electricity, and exploded through the remaining ships like a hot knife through butter. 

Before this disc made up of two transports, and about the size of a ‘small’ skyscraper could continue forward, recklessly destroying parts of the factory, Corvus exerted his will, and wrenched it to the side. 

The disc rotated, then began to pass through the Imperial line, effortlessly eliminating dozens of soldiers every quarter of a second. After a minute had passed since Corvus's arrival, this entire landing zone had been transformed into an unrecognizable hellhole. Wire hung everywhere, molten slag as far as the eye could see, and the smell, oh the smell was indescribable. 

Those poor souls didn't even have enough time to scream as death met them. 

Setting aside the disc, and retracting his power from it, Corvus sighed at the slaughter, but was not sad to see the size of his ‘pocket book’ grow. Each soldier, apparently, netted him 50 exp. To reach the 10,000,000 exp necessary to advance to level 41 he would therefore need to kill…TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND army regulars. It was an absolutely disgusting act of murder, but on the battlefield, everything was permissible. 

Besides, this single minute of action had seen 3,455 men & women slaughtered. That was a whopping 172,750 exp. Back in the day when he had first arrived in this galaxy far far away over eight months ago, such a number would have made him ecstatic. To fight 3,000+ people at once…that was a fight that could last several hours if he was by himself, or he would need at least a few hundred clones to resolve them quickly. 

However, his battle with Vader had opened his eyes as to his combat ceiling, and now that he had been promoted to a Jedi Shadowmaster, his powers had more than doubled since last they met. In short, he was absolutely disgusting. 

Of course, he didn't really want to break this factory apart, even if it meant leveling up once. After all, he was a leader on the galactic stage, and had to consider the Colicoids as potential allies, and was greedy for their technology. 

That said, that didn't mean he couldn't get a little…creative with his approach. 

Closing his eyes, he opened himself to the Force. Opened himself to sensing every lifeform. He then greyed out those who were loyal to him, and focused upon the rest. 

Oh yes, hunting down the Imperials would be as easy as counting to 1,2, 3. 

~~~~~~

AN: High end Jedi who can spam [Energy Resistance]/[Physical Resistance] have precognition, and move as fast as a top of the line starfighter are such bullshit. You literally can't kill these guys unless you have an Uno Reverse card.