Any shocked awe Corvus had for the Mirialan Jedi Knight and her flawless execution gave way as pain assaulted his shoulder.
Looking down, Corvus saw a blackened stain on his left shoulder, as well as some partially charred flesh.
Corvus felt his vision blacken for a second, then he grit his teeth, and caught himself stumbling. He barely kept on walking, and used a nearby wall to brace himself.
"Aughhh!" Jaxs's excruciating scream, funny enough, helped Corvus snap out of his momentary fugue.
He noticed the Knight was completely ignoring them as she kneeled down next to the downed Twi'lek Padawan.
The dragon-kin alien glanced at Corvus with a sheepish look, and a nod, then placed his attention on his dying comrade.
The teenaged blue alien girl's chest was weakly rising, but Corvus felt that her time was not long for this world.
Hopefully Corvus would be able to do something about it.
Perusing his menu, Corvus advanced up to level 4, and dumped a free attribute point into Dex, bringing it up to 15. Keeping with the previous trend, Corvus pumped his skill points into Awareness and Persuasion.
Once his Awareness was at a higher level, he wouldn't have to worry about not spotting stealthed enemies in the future.
As for Persuasion, it was a no brainer. He wasn't going to win a galactic wide conflict solely on the might of his lightsaber, or by mind tricks. In fact, Persuasion was a rather insidious, unquantifiable variable. One that would serve him well against powerful Force users, as well as Force resistant creatures such as the Hutts.
There were no new Feats available until level 6, leaving only Force Powers remaining. And he had just the one in mind.
[Heal]
It was the ultimate standard skill required in any RPG party, and a staple for Jedi Consulars. Yet it was a surprisingly rare ability among Jedi throughout the millennia.
For a Force centric organization dedicated to preaching order, most Jedi were pathetically limited in their abilities. It seemed 90% of all Force users only knew how to jump, wield a lightsaber, push, and mind trick. Essentially, they were saber monkeys. Impressive abilities, yet the Force could do so much more.
Internally clicking his tongue, Corvus resumed time.
The first thing he noticed upon leveling up was that his wound healed.
A potentially game breaking power, yet Corvus had a level cap of 50. It was something to think about for another time. For now, he had to see about the injured.
Grabbing Jax by the shoulder, Corvus dragged him toward the Twi'lek so that he could heal both of them at the same time.
[Heal] was an AOE skill that worked off Wisdom & Charisma modifiers. It would grow in power and size the higher his stats were.
For now, Corvus could only heal allies within a 10ft radius. Hence, the need to drag Jax over, killing two birds with one stone.
He felt the teen look at him with a lost, desolate look. Understandably, he was not taking the loss of his friends and the loss of his limbs all too well.
Yon stood by with his arms crossed, for some reason, his rage nearly doubled when he beheld Jaxs' wounded state.
A tsundere rival the likes of Vegeta perhaps?
Shaking his head, Corvus gently dropped Jax down next to the Twi'lek.
The Knight didn't even spare him a glance. Her entire focus was spent gripping the blue girl's hands. She gently moved the Twi'lek's lekku (hair tentacle) aside, and smiled.
Corvus's heart was moved when he saw such a tragic sight.
"I am so sorry Linyin, I have failed you." The green Knight muttered bitterly as tears threatened to streak down her face.
"It, cou-hah, it's fine Master Kyra. I'm just ha-fuah, happy you were my teacher." Linyin smiled a crimson smile up at Kyra.
A piercing white light was fizzling at the dragon-alien's fingertips, he was obviously trying to heal Linyin, but to no avail.
"Conserve your energy Zork, she will be one with the Force soon. We must continue living so that we may avenge this great misdeed." Kyra gently placed her hand on the dragon-alien, and spoke with steel in her voice.
Corvus raised an eyebrow. This woman was not playing around! Soothing, understanding, and dangerous. The Jedi Order needed people like her now, more than ever!
"A wise sentiment, but we shall see if it is Linyin's day to meet the great beyond or not." Corvus nodded at the duo, then got to work.
Raising his hands, he activated [Heal].
A burst of green light shrouded everyone within a 10ft radius. Those who were uninjured had their aches and pains removed, whilst those more severely injured had their flesh knit back together.
The Twi'lek girl sputtered and gasped as color came back to her.
"M-master?"
"Linyin!"
Corvus knit his brows, and activated the Force Power once more, completely closing her wounds.
The joyful reunion was slightly soured by the depressive mood radiating off Jax, and the barely contained anger coming from Yon.
"We will get you new arms. Do not despair, Jax." Corvus spoke with confidence in an effort to cheer the young man up.
Upon saying so, a new quest formed.
[Quest: Restore Jax's arms. Reward: 1,000 exp, ???]
Corvus thought it curious that there was an unknown reward, as he didn't remember that being part of Kotor 2, but it piqued his curiosity.
While he had been imagining the inner workings of his system, he exited pause to see that the teen had in fact, not cheered up.
"..." Jax stared silently at the ground and remained silent.
"Get up!" Yon shouted, and slapped Jax in the face.
The joyful reunion had gone quiet as the shorts black haired youth gripped Jax by the collar, and hauled him to his feet.
"If you think you have the right to mope around then you've got another thing coming! I wanted to die back there, but you dragged me along! So get up you kriffing bastard!" Yon snarled, and pushed Jax towards Corvus.
"You led Jax to the sewers, Corvus, you handle this mess." Yon petulantly shoved his hands into his pockets, and scowled at the other two padawans who were giving him horrified looks.
This act seemed to light a fire and will to survive in Jax, and the white haired teen silently nodded at Corvus, seemingly in agreement with Yon.
"The padawan, while harsh, is right, we must go. And Corvus, is it? Thank you for healing Linyin." Kyra slightly inclined her head, then gestured towards the sewer entrance.
"Yeah, thanks! And uh, don't feel bad, Jax, I think mech arms are cool!" Linyin spoke up from behind Kyra, and poked her head out like a shy school girl.
At the same time, Corvus felt the intense gaze of Zork falling on him. When he looked over, Corvus saw the dragon-alien look down in shame. It would appear Zork felt embarrassed over his failure to heal Linyin.
Shaking his head, Corvus knew they couldn't waste anymore time.
"Enough lollygagging, the clones will discover that this sector has gone quiet in a matter of minutes. We must go. But before that, I'll cover our tracks."
Corvus ushered everyone into the sewers, and at the same time, collected all the thermal detonators, and extra explosives that the commandos had been carrying.
They had the really good stuff, among them was a device known as explosive charges. Mag locked, one only needed to set a timer, and it would set off an enormous explosion similar to C4 once the countdown was up.
While there was a chance that other Jedi might try the sewer tunnels to escape, Corvus figured any who would try for them, had already made the attempt. Therefore, it was better for him to secure his escape, than to worry over 'what ifs.'
With that in mind, he planted a half dozen explosive charges on the surrounding walls, Corvus set the timer for five minutes, then hauled ass into the sewers.
When he came across the waiting members of his party, Corvus shouted only one word.
"Run!"
After going in a straight line for a mile, Corvus heard a distant boom.
Sighing in relief, Corvus could feel a similar attitude radiating off his compatriots.
Although he noticed that Kyra was much better at muting her emotions. Corvus would expect nothing less from a Jedi Knight.
"Where do we go next?" Linyin curiously asked.
It was a good question, as they had come to a halt at a branching path with three options.
"We should split up, enhance our odds of survival." Yon darted his eyes between the choices, and looked like he would bolt down one of the shafts at any moment.
"There is strength in numbers." Zork raised his head, and looked to both Corvus and Kyra, obviously afraid to be abandoned.
Kyra looked like she was going to speak, but glanced at Corvus, clearly curious as to his inner thoughts. In fact, Corvus noticed a shrewd look about her. Was she testing him?
Pausing so he wouldn't reveal a smile or smirk, he checked his map.
If he could blink his eyes, he would. This place was HUUUGE.
The Jedi were not fucking around when they built their mecca to the Force!
Corvus spent maybe half an hour on the map screen while going over different possible routes.
The Jedi Shadows and Sentinels responsible for security tunneled out an absolute maze over the millenia. Metroid had nothing on this!
He felt like he would get a headache if he tried to parse through this vast quantity of info, and decided to just pick an exit, then let the map marker guide him through.
After another half hour search, he settled on a tailor shop that was located on one of the lowest levels of Coruscant's underworld, Level 1313.
Unpausing, Corvus followed his map marker, and confidently stepped into the left tunnel.
"There's no need to split up. This path will lead us to a tailor shop on the lower levels. It is the perfect place to pick up a disguise, and blend in with the locals."
"But how can you know where to go if you're from a different Jedi academy or whatever?" Yon pointed an accusing finger.
"Look kid, same words as last time, follow along if you want to. But if you want to see your friend smiling and with working hands again, best you fall in line." Corvus called over his shoulder, and resumed his journey.
Jax, while depressed, was still under the effects of Force Valor, and so he was the first to follow.
As for the Twi'lek and dragon-alien, they looked to Kyra.
Corvus heard her whisper something unintelligible to them, and their footsteps were soon to follow.
Right when Corvus reached a service elevator, and everyone had filed in, Yon ran to catch up, and wordlessly pushed his way inside.
Unfortunately, the elevator only went as low as Level 500. From there, he would have to either exit onto the streets, or move towards another service shaft. As he didn't trust going out into public with everyone dressed in Jedi robes, Corvus elected to travel through the sewers the entire way.
Once the elevator door snap-hissed open, they walked out of a well lit room into one of gloom.
An awful, foul smelling, damp sewer filled with spills and rusted metal frames was the first thing he noticed. As soon as everyone stepped out, the door shut, and a camouflaged cover came down. The location to the elevator looked just like another section of sewer wall.
While Corvus would like to geek out over the hidden architecture of the Jedi and their secrets, he had a mission to accomplish. The safety of these kids was in his hands, and he had much to do if he was to hamstring the formation of Palpatine's new Empire.
Pausing for just a brief second-something he had decided to do every time he entered a new room, that, and at an interval of about every 10 minutes-Varus took stock of his surroundings.
The environment was humid, and extremely noxious. Corvus wished he had the Force Power that let him convert the surrounding air into oxygen.
"Eww, Master, this is nasty!" Linyin plugged her nose.
"Focus on the Force. Eliminate all sensations of unpleasantness. You are calm, you are serene, you are one with the vast current of the Force." Kyra's voice spoke in a soothing, almost ethereal tone.
Tilting his head, Corvus absorbed her wisdom, and did just that.
After a moment of focus, and a subtle tug on the Force, Corvus noticed that the rotten stench had become somewhat muted.
However, that very same connection-like a thread-was tickling the back of his mind.
Warning him that something was up with this stank, and that it was close yet far away.
"One often meets that which they wish to avoid on the road he takes to avoid it." Corvus found himself muttering as he began the long trek to their destination.
"An interesting analogy. Who is it attributed to?" Kyra asked from a few steps back, while following behind.
"A wise man, Master Oogway once shared this wisdom with me before becoming one with the Force." Corvus said in a wistful tone.
"Was he your Master?" Linyin ran up beside Corvus, and jumped ahead of him over a puddle.
"Linyin!" Kyra harshly rebuked.
"E-eep! I mean, uh, sorry?" Linyin looked up at Corvus with watery eyes.
"Haha, no offense, I know this is an intense time for all of us. You could say he was a Master to me of sorts, much like how Master Yoda is a teacher to all those in the Jedi Temple." Corvus waved off the chastened teenager with levity.
"The way you talk about Master Yoda and the Temple, and from Yon's comments, are you from another school? Is that where you learned such skills as a healer?" Zork ran up behind Corvus, and spoke in a hurried, eager manner before pulling back in embarrassment as his deep bass voice echoed in the cavernous sewers.
Corvus paused, and noticed the water ripple, he looked back at Kyra, it seemed she noticed it too.
Interestingly, Jax had also silently bumped into Corvus, and gestured with his chin.
Corvus grinned at the white haired teen, but the boy looked away with a glum pout.
"Ha! I'm not at liberty to say, sorry to disappoint!" Corvus made sure not to lie, as he was sure they would feel any deceit. After all, he may have easily grasped the system based abilities, but anything Force related outside of that realm would take some serious training to develop.
"Awww." Zork flicked out a lizard tongue, and his green scales turned slightly purple in a sign that Corvus interpreted as disappointment.
"Tch, isn't it obvious! He must be a Shadow! No one has seen him before, yet he knows about Master Yoda, and can lead us directly to a location through the sewers." Yon slapped his hand into an empty palm as if he had solved the case of the century.
When all eyes fell upon him, Corvus merely grinned and shrugged his shoulders, neither confirming, nor denying the allegations.
"Don't Shadows eat younglings?!" Linyin jumped back, and hid behind Kyra.
Zork's previous enthusiasm seemed to somewhat dim, and he turned to the Knight for further guidance.
"I have met one once before while out on a mission as a Padawan. He was intense, and performed somewhat questionable deeds, but he was a Jedi. Corvus may be suspicious, but we must trust him and one another if we are to pull through. His skills and knowledge will be paramount in surviving amongst Coruscant's underworld." Kyra nodded at Corvus in respect, and smiled at her two charges.
"Oh, oh! Then uh mister Shadow, I mean, Master Corvus, uh-"
"Sh!" Corvus held up his hand for silence as he felt a current in the Force.
A moment later, the mechanical clank of metal on metal, followed by the whirring of servos echoed within this poorly lit hallway.
With a quick pause, Corvus observed his surroundings.
They were currently in a tube about 10ft tall and 10ft across. It ran straight for 100 more feet, then exited out into a wide atrium.
Inside, he saw the shadowed outline of a dozen battle droids, with room for more. A heavy repeating blaster rifle (machine gun) was in the process of being set up, and it would take only a handful of seconds for it to go online.
It was odd to Corvus that a contingent of CIS droids would be in the sewers, but then again, the Battle for Coruscant must have happened not too long ago considering Order 66 was initiated. What many people didn't know, was that the Battle for Coruscant had a fierce ground campaign too. Given that logic, it wasn't unbelievable for some CIS operatives to still be lurking about.
But the logical placement of these droids didn't really concern Corvus at the moment, because they were in a tight spot.
As it stood, their current position was wide open without cover. However, there was room to maneuver in the atrium.
He had to go hard, and he had to go fast!
Gathering his focus, Corvus exited pause, and moved forward with everything he had as the effects of [Force Speed] had him moving like a sports car going at full tilt.
Deflecting a pair of blaster bolts to the side, Corvus realized he wasn't going to be within melee range soon enough, so he threw out his hand.
[Force Push] knocked the heavy gun over, and knocked two droids down along with it.
Parrying a shot into a droid's chest, Corvus ran into the atrium, and paused.
The 12 silhouettes he had seen from the corridor were just the beginning. In fact, it seemed as if he had stumbled upon a CIS operating center!
Leading this cell were two Neimodians, and a Muun. One Neimodian was busy working a communication station, and the Muun was busy repairing a batch of broken droids. The last Neimodian seemed to be in charge, and was in the process of issuing orders, and trying to run away.
Muun:
Corvus counted as many as 89 battle droids, 2 super battle droids, a sniper in the rafters, and other tech interfaces required for long term mechanical habitation.
When he took everything in, he noticed that only about half of them were facing his way, the other half were either idling, about to turn towards him, or were guarding another entrance.
If he kept up his pace, and ran straight, they would have a perfect firing arc on him, and could hit him from all angles. However, to the left, there was a poorly lit region with many tubes and other hard to maneuver obstacles.
In other words, cover.
Finished with his plan, Corvus resumed time, and moved.
Running to the left, he simultaneously cut down three droids, blocked a shot for his head, jumped over a spray of automatic fire from the super battle droids, then spun mid air to throw a [Force Push] enhanced grenade at the fleeing Neimodian commander.
Getting behind cover, and boom resounded in the confines of the atrium, making Corvus's ears ring, but he paid it no mind as he kept up the pace.
Several bolts hit the pipes, blackening them, and warping them in the process, but Corvus used the cover and low light environment to his advantage.
Keeping low to the ground, Corvus deactivated his lightsaber, and evaded their line of sight.
Without a leader, the idiot droids kept mindlessly blasting the spot where he had been, instead of anticipating where he would go.
When he emerged from cover, Corvus reignited his weapon, and an azure beam snap hissed into existence, bisecting a droid, decapitating another one, and the delimbing several more as he waded amongst them until he speed blitzed a super battle droid from the side.
As supers could shoot at much faster rates, they were a priority for Corvus. His [Energy Shield] was still at the basic level, and he would rather not test it against such a notorious bot.
After gutting 8 battle droids, and one super all within the span of 30 seconds, Corvus felt a warning in the Force, and he duck rolled forward, cutting through a droid at the same time.
Where he had been a moment ago, a missile had exploded.
"Careful of those wrist rockets!" Kyra exclaimed as she joined the fight.
The Mirialan Jedi Knight diced through the remaining super, then tossed her offhand saber, sweeping through 12 droids at once.
The sniper in the rafters took that moment to shoot at her.
When Corvus raised his hand, and began to utter a shout, Kyra flicked her saber backwards, and took the sniper out.
Without any further thought, she recovered her offhand lightsaber using the Force, and continued to slay.
At that moment, Yon, Linyin, and Zork joined the battle, and the majority of the CIS operatives were massacred.
"We surrender, we surrender!" The Neimodian and Muun held up their hands in fear.
Corvus pointed his saber at them, and then turned to his compatriots.
"Everyone okay?" Corvus asked the group of sweaty and tired Jedi.
"We are healthy, but otherwise fatigued. Perhaps a short break is in order?" Kyra suggested, and gestured towards some snacks and drinks the CIS operatives had been eating earlier.
Corvus raised an eyebrow as he looked everyone in the team over. He saw that Kyra was fine, but the Padawans were out of breath. Well, Linyin and Zork were out of breath, the crazy kid Yon was busy amusing himself by dicing through a super battle droid as if it had murdered his sister.
That kid had issues, but at the moment was the 3rd most reliable combatant on this team. While Zork had the reflexes of a Jedi, he was slow and uncertain. Linyin on the other hand, seemed to have solid training and mechanics, but had little real world application.
Actually, Corvus felt similarly to Linyin. His feat, [Melee Finesse] really helped him out a lot. But he was still new to this. The only reason he wasn't as 'bad' as her, was because every fight he was in, he used pause in between strikes so that it came out as flawless as possible.
As for Jax, well, he was moping in the background, but his gaze was ever vigilant, and he had positioned himself near the other tunnel entrance silently keeping watch.
Corvus shot the white haired teen a nod, then turned back to answer Kyra's call for a rest.
"A break sounds good. I'll be over in the side chamber going over this communication relay with our prisoner, please no one bother me unless it is an emergency." Corvus pointed a thumb over his shoulder at an alcove that housed many different electronics.
"Sounds good. Make sure you eat something too. You never know when our next meal will be." Kyra nodded at Corvus, and tossed him an energy bar.
"Will do." Corvus smiled at the pretty green alien girl, then turned to the Neimodian .
"You, up."
"I'm just a communications tech, I know nothing! Nothing!"
"Relax, I'm a Jedi aren't I?" Corvus said soothingly.
The Neimodian wordlessly looked down at the pile of flesh that had been his commanding officer.
"Right. Well you surrendered didn't you?" Corvus scratched the back of his head.
The Neimodian sighed, and began to walk towards the alcove full of tech tools.
Along the way, Corvus stuffed his inventory full of droid parts, weapons, etc.
"Woah, could you teach me how to do that?!" Linyin was watching Corvus, and excitedly exclaimed when she watched Corvus disappear some loot into thin air.
"Sorry little one, but it is an inborn trait. I could no more teach you how to make an item disappear than I could teach you how to breathe." Corvus patiently explained.
"What, little? Hey! Besides, Master teaches me breathing techniques all the time! You're just a meanie!" Linyin rushed past Corvus's side, and ran to go hide behind the pipes.
The young teen then began to swing her lightsaber, and seemed to be acting out Corvus's fight.
For a moment, he thought the blue skinned Twi'lek was being childish, but then he saw Kyra correcting Linyin, and even improving Corvus's routing path and critiquing his actions.
She was using him as a training tool for her Padawan!
Corvus didn't know if he should be insulted or impressed!
"Ah, you Jedi are unfair." The Nemoidian sighed.
"Ain't that the truth. Say, you got a name?" Corvus asked.
"Huh?"
"A designation, a call sign, yes a name! I can't keep thinking of you as 'Neimodian ' all the time, now can I?" Corvus spoke in a friendly tone.
He had a use for this man's skills, and a little kindness could go a long way. Besides, there was no reason to be a duck if he didn't have too. They might be at war with the Confederation, but that didn't really matter much when Palpatine was probably giving his speech right about now about a 'safe and secure society.'
"Kruk, Lt. Kruk Mefaip, communications specialist." Kruk stuttered out.
"Well nice to meet you Kruk, you can call me Corvus."
"Ah ha ha, so, uh Corvus, why have you isolated me from the group?" Kruk nervously glanced around and gulped.
"Didn't you hear me? I have need of a communications specialist." Corvus's grin was all teeth as Kruk seemed to fold in on himself.
"What would you have me do? I must inform you Jedi, uh, Corvus, I am not privy to sensitive information. Ever since the Battle of Coruscant a week ago, we have remained radio silent for fear of discovery."
Corvus reeled back in shock at that bombshell announcement.
A week in between the Battle of Coruscant and Order 66 might not seem like a big deal, but canonically, the entire Revenge of the Sith movie took place over 3-5 frickin days!
Actually, this was great news! It meant that travel time between star systems actually existed, and George Lucas couldn't just hand wave everything away for the convenience of plot!
There were quite a few different hyperdrives in Star Wars with different speeds. And without going too much into detail, the 'fastest' speed a ship could travel from the Core to the Outer Rim was about 72hrs.
Meaning even if Anakin was still cleaning up the Jedi Temple of any remnants at the moment, or if he had left sometime within the last hour, it would still take him some time to reach Mustafar!
Corvus ran a hand through his hair, and laughed uproariously. This first week was going to be crucial to his survival, and the fact that the Empire would take time to consolidate would be an immense boon. Given this information, Corvus might just be able to poke Palpatine in the eye for his hubris!
"Ah ha ha…" Kurk nervously laughed along.
Corvus suddenly ceased laughing, as he realized he must look like a raving lunatic at the moment, and if the fear he sensed from the green skinned, red eyed alien was anything to go by, he was figuratively swimming in his own piss!
"Sorry to scare you like that, but I need you to make a priority call to any CIS forces stationed on Mustafar, and then kindly leave the room." Corvus ordered.
"Mustafar?" Kurk said in confusion, but he shrugged his shoulders and made the call.
Corvus remained silent whilst Kurk was busy inputting codes and proper inscriptions. Whilst the Neimodian was doing so, Corvus busied himself by searching up some information of the HoloNet that would be pertinent to the upcoming meeting.
"Just so you know, the Republic will probably send a platoon of clones once they pick up the encoded CIS frequency being sent from this location, so please let them know we are prisoners so that we don't get shot." Kurk said in a pleading tone as he vacated the alcove.
"Got it. You may go now." Corvus shoed Kurk off, then bit his lip at the unexpected info.
Corvus silently cursed himself for not anticipating this development, but he had a message that needed to be sent.
Once Kurk had left the room, Corvus put on his Revan mask so as to hide his own identity, and perpetuate the mythos.
If he could convince the CIS leadership to vacate Mustafar, and prolong the war, then that would give many more Jedi the opportunity to survive. Furthermore, Palpatine's entire casus belli, or right to create the Empire, was based around bringing security to the people.
If the CIS is still going hard, and the Empire hadn't delivered on its promises, then resentment would fester amongst the populace much sooner than in cannon.
While Corvus had no illusions as to the CIS's viability to win against Palpatine this late into the war, that didn't mean it wasn't worth a try.
At the very least, if the CIS worked with him, and they stuck it to Palpatine long enough, that Corvus might be able to enact an early rebellion.
While Corvus was analyzing his approach, and reasons as to why he was contacting the CIS leadership, the call rang for an agonizing five minutes before it was finally picked up.
"Who is this? We are on a communication blackout, you had better have a good reason for calling this number." Nute Gunray answered the call in an arrogant tone.
Behind the leader of Neimodia were the other leaders of the Separatist Council.
"A communications blackout, hm? Then you haven't seen Emperor Palpatine's speech, have you?" Corvus played a snippet of Palpatine's speech before the Senate.
"...the Republic shall be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe, and secure society."
"What nonsense? Some masked man calling at this hour, and showing a clearly doctored clip? When peace has been achieved? I am terminating this call." Gunray moved to press a button, yet halted when he heard Corvus speak next.
"Sideous is Palpatine, please tell me there is an intelligent life form among you. Yes, you, Wat Tambor of the Techno Union, you have seen this 'Lord Sideous' before, does he not bear a striking resemblance to the hooded Chancellor? Simply search up this speech on the HoloNet, you will know then if it is fake news or not." Corvus sarcastically remarked.
"This is ridiculous, I am ending the call right now!" Gunray nervously moved to press down, yet a gloved hand pulled him back.
"Not so fast, Viceroy. I have saved a recording of my interaction with Lord Sideous in the past. I need only superimpose the image of the hooded Chancellor, with Sideous's to discover the truth." Tambor's deep bass-like voice rumbled through his voice modifier.
The green skinned Skakoan fiddled with several devices for a moment, before an image of Palpatine and Sideous were layered over one another.
"A 97% similarity." Tambor declared.
"It's true then!" Poggle the Lesser, the bug-like Geonosian leader clicked his tongue in surprise.
"This changes nothing, Lord Sideous has promised us peace! We all know we are losing this war, capitulation is our only means of survival!" Gunray turned to his fellow councilors, and spoke in a pleading voice.
"Ah, but survival for how long, Viceroy? Sideous promised you his Apprentice would come to Mustafar, to take care of you, did he not?" Corvus mocked.
"How did you-?" Gunray got out before he was sharply interrupted.
"I know many things. I know that that this new Apprentice is being sent to end you. When you first blockaded Naboo, Viceroy, do you recall meeting with Sideous? Do you recall saying 'now this is getting out of hand, now there are two of them!" Corvus chuckled as he saw the dark green skinned turn pale in fright.
"This cannot be! You must be a-"
"Jedi, yes. A Jedi is warning the Separatist Council that a Sith is coming to murder them. How comedic, I know."
"Brrr-nak! How can we trust what a Jedi has to say?!" Poggle shook his fist in anger.
"Do you know the ancient saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Search up 'Jedi Temple burning' on the HoloNet, or message your forces on Mygeeto or Felicia. You will soon discover that the clones have turned on the Jedi. We are, sadly, a swiftly dying sect." Corvus inclined his head in a brief act of humility.
"Good riddance, I have lost untold credits thanks to you Jedi." Shu Mai, the Muun in charge of the Commerce Guild tutted.
Corvus ignored the barb, and turned all his attention to the Neimodian. If he could convince this greedy coward to flee Mustafar, then the rest would follow. At the moment, the Separatist Council was like a group of rats on a sinking vessel, they would cling to any hope offered to them. They just needed a little nudge.
"Viceroy, you of all people know how vicious the Sith are. How manipulative he can be."
"No! I don't want to hear it, he promised us peace!"
"You know how he operates. Do you truly think in your heart of hearts that his promises are worth any more than a pile of bantha poodoo? If he can make a Viceroy with the snap of a finger, do you think he cannot unmake a Viceroy with another snap?" Corvus leaned in close, and grinned beneath the mask. He could see the Neimodian wavering. Time to go in for the kill shot.
"Mnnchuck. You are trying to scare us with fancy words, and Jedi tricks. It will not work." Poggle waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't want to know the identity of Darth Vader? Your so-called protector? Why would you need a protector if you were promised peace? Protection from what? The Jedi?! Hah! I believe you felt his grasp around your neck during an interrogation once, Poggle." Corvus taunted.
The Geonosian descended into a series of loud clicks, and slammed his staff down, but Corvus kept going.
"He slew Admiral Trench in cold blood. Just last week, he decapitated Dooku right in front of Palpatine as an initiation right. Must I spell it out for you?"
"Skywalker."
The name seemed to hang in the air.
No one knew who said it, but the entire Separatist Council seemed to shudder as the name marinated in the room, like a foul odor.
"What would you have us do?" Gunray weakly took his thumb off the cancel button, and gave Corvus his full attention.
'All too easy.' Corvus smirked to himself.
~~~~~~~~
AN: Honesty can't wait till I get to do a reaction POV chapter of Palps, and Obi/Yoda. Their bafflement shall be legendary!
Also, this is how I am power scaling the levels from the system:
I = low tier Knight
II = Knight tier available level 5
III = high tier Knight level 15
IV = low tier Master level 20/25?
V = Master level 30
VI = high tier Master level 40
VII = Grandmaster level 50
Read up to chapter 11 at: patreon.com/KarpQQ
There's a 40% sale off rn, so only $6~~~