During the call with Admiral Tenant, Corvus had been in a type of pseudo-meditation. The entire time he spoke, he had been reaching out with the Force to place the Imperial officer under a [Mind Trick].
Having gone tricked someone from a quarter of a mile away, and even done so to an entire room, he wanted to attempt it at long ranges.
Inspired by the naval manual, and Vader choking people via hologram, Corvus found that it was easier to affect someone through the Force when communicating with them, or looking at them with his own eyes. Of course, if he was a true Master of the Force, he should be able to affect someone from across the galaxy. As a Peak Knight, however, he had to settle with what he had.
Additionally, to aid in his deception, he had created a program that gave him the appearance/voice of the captured Admiral Trace, and was essentially no different from some dude cosplaying as an avatar on the internet. Of course instead of harvesting money or clout, Corvus was aiming to take life!
And what great amounts of life did he take!
Due to his diligent meditation, Corvus had received a premonition that the clone Captain would discover the [Mind Trick] and slay the Imperial Admiral. Having prepared for this outcome, he had jammed the enemy flagship seconds before it could send out any transmissions. As such, the entire fleet had remained in the dark! Corvus's treachery had gone unnoticed!
Of course that minute of subterfuge hadn't lasted long, but what a glorious minute of ignorance it was! The Imperials-not knowing any better-had had their shields powered down to save energy. Taking advantage of this lapse, Corvus had ordered all batteries open fire.
Resting below half of the Malastare fleet the Starcrusher Corp unleashed an unimaginable amount of firepower upon the exposed underbellies of 25 Acclamators, and 3 Venators. That's right, in one swift motion, over two dozen capital class cruisers became nothing more than stardust!
Unfortunately, Corvus couldn't obliterate the enemy fleet in one go, as it had been split into two different sectors forming a V formation. In between the two ship elements was a large minefield.
Having jumped the entirety of the Starcrusher Corp underneath one sector-so as not to arouse suspicions and appear harmless-Corvus brought to bare an overwhelming amount of force in one direction, immediately tilling the scales in his favor.
That being said, victory wasn't a 100% sure thing. At this very moment, half of the starfighters from both the planet and Venators were surrounding the Starcrusher Corp on all sides. Admiral Tenant had scrambled them ahead of time, and now 5,000 ships were barreling down upon him. Over 2,500 of those were flying directly at the ships engines, and exposed underbellies. The only recourse to solve this imminent threat was to launch their 6,000 starfighters, utilize point defense systems, and react accordingly.
As such, Corvus had taken flight to meet the oncoming horde of starfighters. Taking command of Devil Squadron, he was flying deep into the teeth of the enemy.
From Pause, and with the help of precognition, Corvus was able to juke his way through nearly every single bolt sent his way, that or he very deliberately tanked shots where his shield was strongest, trading a kill for minor damage to his vessel.
With Devil Squadron on his flank, Corvus blasted through an oncoming rush of fighters moving at incredible speeds. Fireballs constantly erupted all around him as ships exploded, and he even heard a few 'Wilhelm Screams' from the group comms as three of his units met ignoble ends. Seeing that they were surrounded like a man being swarmed by bees, he knew that he had to switch strategies.
Taking in the battlefield, Corvus realized that their fleet formation was messy, and pulled up the comms for Captain Clip-the leader onboard the Herald-for a quick chat.
"Captain, position the rear fleet elements to pull 'up,' so that their guns can target the starfighters encroaching on our flank. The rest of our fleet is to turn to quadrant Z-57, and turn port (left) to face towards the minefield. This group is to hold position, and screen the remaining 5,000 fighters that are racing towards us. Once we have dealt with them, we shall regroup the fleet, and spear through the enemy line." Corvus detailed his plan succinctly.
"Aye, General, orders received. Should I deploy interdictor technology?" Clip replied.
"Not yet, we only have two ships with those kinds of capabilities, and they'd have to be much closer to the enemy to effectively deploy their interdiction fields. It's not worth the risk. However, should you see the opportunity, I want you to take that risk, if we can keep our 'betrayal' secret for a few days longer, than we have the potential to overwhelm this region of space."
"Very well, I'll carry out my orders." Clip said with certainty, then cut the line.
As soon as the call was cut, Devil-1's voice sounded out.
"General, they must have recognized the importance of your craft, three squads are headed straight for us!"
"I see them, Devil-1. Bank starboard in 500 kilometers, we'll use that friendly Acclamator as cover, and rely on her guns to cover our flank. Meanwhile, we'll go head to head with the other group."
"But sir, the third squadron will be right on top of us by then!" Devil-1 said with clear dissatisfaction in his tone. He knew that their chances of survival after being targeted like this were slim to none.
"You let me worry about that squad, Wing Commander." Corvus hurriedly replied, as he was locked in, and had little time to dedicate his focus to a conversation with the Acclamator rapidly approaching.
As the comms went silent, there were about ten seconds of silence before the flanking force came roaring in, and started blasting at their rears. True to Devil-1's remarks, they were primarily aiming after the Falcon, forcing Corvus to juke, and weave. All the while, the dual mounted guns on the top/bottom of the ship were operated by an R-3 droid brain, and began to shoot ionized bolts back.
Four Imperial Arc-170's were taken out of the fight by him, and three more were destroyed by the rear guns on the Republic ARC-170's. By the time they reached the Acclamator, and used it for cover, the mighty capital ship unleashed its point defense measures, and wiped out the remaining flanking squad.
Corvus breathed a sigh of relief, yet he found that his shields were down to 65%. As strong as they were, and as amazing of a pilot he had been, he was also the focus of an entire squad. The Imperials had almost entirely ignored the other clone troopers, and had exclusively aimed at him. If he had a minute, his shields would refresh, however, he didn't have a minute, the next two waves were upon them!
Advancing directly in front of, and above them, the Falcon was caught in a pincer maneuver from two sides!
"Brace yourselves!" Devil-1 roared.
For a second, Corvus closed his eyes, and deeply attuned himself to the Force, preparing himself to engage in some amazing maneuvers.
Casting [Force Speed] on himself, he enhanced his reaction time by several fold, and was now able to maneuver the nimble-super juiced Falcon-with even better control! Prior to this, flying the Falcon was sort of like how in a videogame, you could set the sensitivity to max, but no normal person could accurately hit the foe every time, and register everything due to the motion blur. But now? Now with this enhancement, Corvus could put the enhanced engine that Tech had jury-rigged to the test, and push this baby to the limit!
Jerking his controls from left to right, Corvus performed a quick whiplash maneuver with his ship. The act caused his vessel to rattle, and strain, yet it had been worth it! That was because at that very moment, he had activated the quad mounted, forward facing laser beams that had been repurposed from a LAAT! That's right, as he strafed the Falcon from left to right, a powerful overclocked beam burst forth, and-thanks to Pause-buffering accurately struck every single starfighter in the oncoming formation.
12 fireballs instantly lit up the dark recesses of space above Malastare as one squadron bit the dust.
"Holy-!" A clone trooper couldn't help himself and said over the comms.
"Steady! Pull up to meet the enemy." Corvus calmly intoned, and directed Devil Squadron towards the last group that had been targeting them.
Unfortunately, his overclocked beam pinpoint lasers were on a cooldown, and he couldn't easily wipe this next squad off the map. However, that didn't mean he couldn't destroy them with ease.
"R-3 disable the anti-missile countermeasures, make it seem as if the Falcon has suffered a catastrophic failure." Corvus commanded the droid brain.
"Bee bo beep!" After beeping in alarm at Corvus's seemingly outrageous demand, the droid followed his order.
"General, we detected that your ship's magnetic detection has been disabled, are you okay to stay on the field?!" Devil-1 said in alarm.
"Keep charging into the enemy, Wing Commander. We shall tear them limb from limb." Corvus said with a smirk, knowing that if his clones had detected this 'malfunction' so too would the enemy.
"....yes sir! Come on Devils, let's show the General our resolve. Since he's willing to bleed with us, let's bleed along with him!" Devil-1 roared over the comms.
"For the Republic!" The remaining men in the unit cheered, and formed up behind the Falcon, refusing to back down in the face of a numerically superior enemy.
As they closed with one another, the opposing ARC-170's locked their missiles on the Falcon, causing a serious amount of beeping within the cockpit. Then seconds later, a dozen proton torpedoes came at him.
Corvus closed his eyes, and held out his hand. Suddenly, the torpedoes reversed course, and flew back the way they came! At such a close distance, the enemy craft couldn't maneuver out of the way, and they were all destroyed without fail!
"R-3, restore all systems." Corvus let out a heavy breath, and smiled to himself, relieved that his gambit had worked.
In his exploration to push the boundaries of the Force, and his understanding of distance, Corvus had taken the same principles he had learned from [Mind Trick] and applied them to [Force Push]!
Studying the naval doctrine manual left behind by the Ossus Jedi Temple had been enlightening on so many levels, and now his months worth of study had paid off! Just because he had a System didn't mean he could or should try to brute force his way through every conflict. No! He was a man who could form his own thoughts, and draw both inspiration and enlightenment from sources other than his System.
Any man who wished to master his craft, whether he be a plumber, mechanic, nurse, or office worker had to learn multiple different skills. Locking himself into System acquired abilities/strategies would be a path that limited his range of thinking, and ultimately stagnated his journey as a Jedi!
Smiling to himself, Corvus felt as if he had discovered another revelation about himself, and felt that he was slowly beginning to embody what it meant to be a Je'daii. Although no quest rewarded him for this internalization, he felt personally fulfilled knowing that he was exploring the mysteries, and applications of the Force on his own terms. That the more he learned, the less he felt like a fraud when teaching his students.
At this moment of triumph, he genuinely felt as if he belonged in the Star Wars universe!
Honing in on this feeling, Corvus entered yet another zen-like mental state, and his body practically acted on auto pilot as he flew across the battlefield.
The enemy turbolasers, and ships were like a big dance, and he was the conductor. His precognition told him where everything was going to be, and he slipped, slid, and twirled around every attempt to end his life.
In retaliation, he decimated wave after wave of the enemy.
During this melding with the Force, the other starfighters had arrived, yet thanks to the 50 Acclamators picking them off, one third of their number had been decimated by the time they reached the Starcrusher Corp's line.
However, their desperate attack was to no avail. Focusing on Corvus, four squadrons had managed to burst his shields, only for [Energy Resistance] to spring up around the Falcon, buying him enough time to recharge his shields.
Before long, he was blinking his eyes, and there was nothing in front of him except the debris of wrecked ships, and hundreds of disabled, ionized ARC-170's.
At that moment, the remaining fleet from across the minefield must have become spooked, and they attempted to escape into Hyperspace, except Captain Clip had positioned the interdictors, and prevented them from leaving the system! During this entire fight, the subspace relays were being jammed too, preventing any outward bound messages from the wider galaxy. At the moment, they had still preserved their false identity as Imperial loyalists!
As soon as he saw this, Corvus messaged the Herald.
"Commander Pots, begin the ground assault at once."
"Yes, General! The commando unit you had dispatched has been successful, the planetary shields are down, as is the shield covering the capital city!" Pots cheerfully replied.
"Excellent." Corvus smirked, then turned on the fleetwide comms.
"Vode An! To the Starcrusher Corp! Not a single capital ship was lost during this engagement. The fight for your brothers, the fight for your future has begun. Tonight, we shall dine on the finest Malastarian food and beer!"
Looking out his cockpit, Corvus then began to direct his fleet towards the remaining Imperial ships. A shark-like grin spread across his face as the taste of his first major victory was within his grasp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: Read up to chapter 178 at: patreon.com/KarpQQ
I update there every Monday, Tues, Wed, Th
Publicly on Fridays