Back aboard the Herald, 5 hours had passed since his duel with Vekk. After a quick nap, Corvus had taken a shower, a shave, then remade his robes at the workshop so that they had a clean scent/sharp appearance. Leaving his quarters, Corvus collected Jax & Yon, presenting them with new Cortosis-Weave robes, and once they were dressed, he began to stride down to the muster hall.
"We're not going to a diplomatic event, are we?" Yon made a face, and acted like a kid going to visit a boring relative.
"I believe it is some awards ceremony? But Master, none of the clones fought this time around?" Jax tilted his head to the side, and asked quizzically.
"Maybe we're the ones getting an award for once?" Yon cheekily grinned.
"Hmm, maybe you two do deserve some commendations, but I think you're more interested in achieving Knighthood than being cheered on by a crowd of people?" Corvus teased.
"What?! Of course I'd rather be a knight! Pfft, who would want to be cheered on by clones anyway?" Yon rolled his eyes, and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Hm." Jax hummed in agreement.
Corvus shook his head. It seemed they still had some dislike for the Jango clones, but at least it wasn't overt hostility. Almost two months had passed since Order 66, it would take time for this wound to heal.
"Anyway, tonight is a big night. Jax, you're somewhat close. Instead of an award ceremony, it's more like a reward ceremony." He explained with a chuckle.
"...." Jax silently appraised Corvus, and a stale wind full of recycled air passed through the hallway.
"I don't get it." Yon scratched his head in confusion.
"Haah, never mind, just follow me, and watch." Corvus sighed, then pulled up his commlink. "Clip, is everything settled?"
"Yes sir, the 10,000 most grievously injured veterans have been gathered, and the food is just about ready." Clip curtly replied.
"Oh nice, I haven't had anything good to eat since Order 66! These rations are worse than the gruel they serve at the Temple!" Yon complained, yet his voice carried a hint of joy at the prospect of new food.
"I understand now." Jax's eyes widened, and he bowed his head at Corvus.
"Oi!" Yon exclaimed, and elbowed Jax, silently demanding an answer, but Jax merely shook his head.
"Alright boys, no need to act like a Gungan and embarrass yourselves. Just stay quiet, and watch. I know you don't have a high opinion of the clones, but their creation and participation in this war are our responsibility. When promises are made, it is important to keep them, otherwise, no one will listen to you." Corvus glanced over his shoulder, and spent an extra second staring at Yon.
"What?!"
Corvus grinned at Yon's affronted look, and then marched through a wide, sliding door.
As soon as the door whooshed open, the 10,000 clones who had been chatting and laughing a second ago suddenly stopped.
"General on deck!" A cry went out, and every trooper in the room stood to attention.
"At ease boys, at ease. Please, take a seat." Corvus waved them off, and began to shake a few hands as he made his way to a podium.
Over the last 5 hours, Captain Clip, and Commander Pots had been taking care of negotiations for him with the locals. As there was no unified leader with the Quintad defeated, Corvus was in a rush to fill that power vacuum. As such, he was here to hold a reward ceremony.
When he reached his spot, countless cameras were recording him, and a projector behind him enlarged his image so that those in the back could get a clear view. The gathering was also being broadcast to the rest of the fleet.
"Today was an auspicious day. We liberated Eriadu without losing a single man. Although this campaign was deathless, does not mean we can afford to lose our vigilance. The Emperor is sure to retaliate, and I need every man I can get to support this war effort-"
"We're with you General!" A random man called out from the crowd, eliciting a great amount of whistling and cheering.
Corvus let out a wry smile, he was sort of annoyed at being interrupted mid speech, but he couldn't be mad at the guys. Holding up a hand for calm, the crowd eventually quieted down.
"It is because I know I can count on you men, and your willingness to sacrifice, that I know I can trust you. Within this room today are 10,000 veterans. From across different squads, battalions and regiments, each and every one of you has something in common."
"Loyalty?"
"Same face!"
"Dick size!"
"Speak for yourself, mate!"
Corvus waited for the laughter to die down, and waited till the room was dead silent. Projecting his seriousness through the Force, Corvus looked each man he could in the eye, letting them understand the gravity of his words.
"As I said, it is your willingness to sacrifice. Every man who is in this room-at one time or another-suffered nearly fatal, or fatal injuries in the line of duty. We salute you!" Corvus beat his fist into his chest, and performed a Roman salute.
His Padawans were a beat slower, and mimicked his actions. Holding the salute for half a minute, Corvus then leaned into the podium, and gripped it by the sides.
"It is because of this selfless dedication that I am retiring you men from the frontlines effective immediately."
Shock, outrage, confusion, anger, fear. All these emotions washed over him as the clones processed his words. Some men began to shout in defiance or exclaim their loyalty to the Republic, others stood still, numb by the announcement.
"Some of you might think the war isn't over, that the General's gone crazy. Well I'll tell you what, you crazy SOB's, it's because the war isn't over that I need you to retire now! Think. Eriadu is a planet of industry, one where a million factories belch out smoke every second of every day! A war machine is only as good as the men wielding it. If I am to make war, I need men I can trust within that apparatus!"
At Corvus's words, some of them began to understand what he was getting at, but most were still confused, or angry that they weren't going to be fighting on the front lines.
"When I started the Starcrusher Corp, I promised wealth, I promised land, and I promised you all a future after this damned conflict ends! Now when I want to hand out a home to call your own, you protest?! Who will run the factories, and serve as the leaders of industry if not you? Do you men truly want your brothers going into war knowing that the equipment could get cut off because some middle manager said no. Can you, with a good conscience, send Venators and Acclamators to your brothers, knowing that outsiders are supervising their construction? Don't you, as soldiers bitch about the size of your equipment, and wish to alter it?! Now is your opportunity! Land, pay, and the knowledge that your actions leading these factories will directly save lives. Is there no better reward to those who were willing to give it all?!" Corvus roared out to the crowd, putting his everything into his words.
The more he spoke, the more solemn the clones became. Any cheers or jeers made way for silence. They regarded him like he was some alien speaking gobbledygook at first, but now, most of them were nodding along. Even those who were unsure couldn't help but sigh in defeat.
Corvus spread his arms wide, as if he were giving a big hub, and grinned at everyone in the hall. "You who gave everything, deserve to have a chance at being given something in return. What do you boys say? Won't you shake a poor Jedi's hand?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A week had passed since his debut on this world, and he had been hard at work winning the locals over. Traveling city to city, he had healed everyone he could, and made good on his promises. Installing 10,000 clone troopers into positions of authority, he made sure his orders were carried out, and that production lines continued to belch out the materials and equipment necessary for war.
Inside a bunker, under the flickering glow of a worn holoprojector, Corvus stood hunched over the tactical table. The sound of distant artillery drills, and men yelling met his senses as the nationalistic men of Eriadu were roused-like a sleeping lion-to war. 22 billion people called this planet home, and after his antics, more than 500 million men making up the army regulars had sworn themselves to the Republic. Then another 500 million had rushed to sign up with the Grand Army of the Republic, making Eriadu's armed forces reach the 1 billion mark.
Blue light bathed his features, casting sharp lines across his tired face as he took in various numbers, formations, drills, and a thousand other bits of information. His robes were damp at the hem, dirt and soot stained the once-pristine fabric. He hadn't slept in thirty hours as directing the war effort was beginning to take its toll on him, demanding more and more of his time.
"Zoom in on the Sarnak Ridge." Corvus ordered, his voice was tired, yet calm.
Captain Clip, helmet tucked under one arm, stepped forward and rotated the holo-interface with two fingers. The ridge expanded, revealing a sprawl of anti-aircraft batteries and hastily constructed trenches. "We finished fortifying the slope this morning. Seventy-first is dug in tight. No armor can come through without getting shredded."
"Unless they come from orbit in drop pods." Commander Pots added grimly. His pauldron bore the black scarring of a glancing turbolaser hit, a trophy from the Malastare campaign. "Word is, the Empire's redirected the Excise battlegroup here, a full 10 Legions of the toughest veterans, including the 501st. Additionally, 300 million regulars from GAR have been added to the enemy composition. They want to stomp us out."
Corvus was dead silent at what the implications that the 501st was being deployed meant. Swallowing a big gulp, he refused to let fear grip his heart. This was a huge battle involving nearly a billion combatants, it was going to be insane!
"They won't glass it." Corvus said, turning from the map to face them. "That ridge is defending one of the most premier chip factories in the galaxy, and is thick with shields. They'll have to land troops."
"But they'll come hard." Clip muttered. "Harder than they hit Kashyyyk. You saw what they did to the Wookies."
"What about the attack on the Wookies?" Pots asked curiously.
"You don't want to know, Commander. I saw the footage, it was a tragedy." Corvus replied softly. His gloved hands snapped into fists as he recalled the damning reports. Slavery was the best thing the Jedi Order's furred friends could hope for. Footage coming out where Order 66 clone troopers wore Wookie skin as robes had surfaced on the holonet, and it made him sick to his core.
The silence that followed was thick. Outside, a distant sonic boom shook the ceiling dust loose.
Corvus straightened and tapped the edge of the holomap, bringing up a three-dimensional display of the planet's southern hemisphere. "We hold the Sarnak Ridge. That's our shield wall. But the real fight will be in the capital." He pointed to the blinking dot representing Eriadu City. "They'll want to decapitate our command post. Pots, I want an entire Division (100k men) shifted into the urban grid. Street-to-street defense is our best bet to grind them out. A war of attrition is in our favor."
Pots frowned. "That'll split our armor. If they push through the lowlands while we're bottled in the city-"
"We'll bleed them for every meter." Corvus said. "We're not trying to win in one fell swoop. We're trying to make them feel the pain of war. Every Legion we tie up here is one less hammer falling somewhere else." Corvus said, alluding to their allies.
Clip stepped beside him, lowering his voice. "You think the remaining Jedi and CIS will still act? What about the Senate?"
Corvus's jaw tightened. "They must. Whilst we draw all the hatred of the galaxy, they must act."
Or we are lost.
No one spoke for a minute as the weight of the situation pressed upon their shoulders.
Thunder cracked outside of the bunker, and distant screams broke the fugue. A few seconds later, the bunker shuddered again, as countless shells of artillery barrages, and practice AA fire raked the skies.
"They're probing us already." Pots said. "A squadron of starfighters skirmished with our boys the other day, and a vast shadow in the Hyperspace lanes has been predicted to arrive in 3 to 5 days."
Corvus turned back to the map, closing his eyes briefly. He could feel it, like a pressure in the Force was coiling, waiting. Something big was going to happen, and he felt a premonition that his death may be imminent. The shadow of Palpatine's Empire reached long and cold, like the tentacles of some arcane Sith monstrosity. But here, in this bunker, surrounded by brothers who hadn't turned, who had removed their chips and stayed loyal after everything, he felt that he had made the right choice. As a Shadow, he had more he wanted to do in terms of covert black ops, but if he abandoned Eriadu so easily after all he had put into the planet, then he would be lost. An army without a base was like a bird without a nest, without a place to rest, repair, and rearm, his forces would eventually degrade into disrepair. They had to hold.
Eriadu had an extremely large dockyard just above the atmosphere, it was rife with turbolasers, and bristling with other defenses. The homefleet was equivalent to two Legions worth of spacecraft. As it stood, it was looking like a 6v10 in terms of fleet composition, and on land, they had those 10 Legions of FNG's recruited from Kamino. Holding the home field advantage meant they could place mines, create chokepoints, and force the enemy to fight on their terms. Numerically speaking, they held the advantage on the ground, whilst the Imperials had brought more ships.
"We shall hold. For as long as we are able. We will show the galaxy that the Starcrusher Corp aren't some paper tiger that can only win through subterfuge or numbers. That our victories up to this point aren't flukes."
Captain Clip slid his helmet on with a hiss. "For the Republic."
"For the Republic." Pots echoed, slamming a fist to his chest.
Corvus allowed himself a moment to feel the fire of their conviction, and met their eyes with a confident smile.
"Get your men ready, finish what needs to be done. Within a few days, we shall be met with the very best that the Empire can throw at us."
And they would be waiting.
~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: May the Fourth Be With You!
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