Karp
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Jedi Insurgency 031 (Interlude 3)
🕑 Added 2025-05-05 17:30:20 +0000 UTCAfter kissing Revan goodbye, Tann was in a ship flying towards her next destination, and was reflecting on her recent jailbreak.
Complex feelings gnawed at her heartstrings when thoughts of the masked man came to mind.
For the last 3 maybe 4 years, she had been languishing away in prison, and he had freed her. Not the CIS, not the Chiss, no, some Jedi of all things had come to her.
Not to taunt or deride as previous Jedi had done, nor had he come to threaten her chastity as the warden was wont to do.
No, when he looked upon her, he saw value. He saw a weapon worthy of wielding, worthy of fighting alongside. She didn't know how much that simple feeling, the feeling of being needed, would fulfill her.
Being captured during the first three months of the Clone Wars, Tann had fantasized about her escape, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine it would come from the enemy.
As a Dark Adept, she was the antithesis of everything the Jedi Order stood for. As a Chiss, it was her solemn duty to influence the universe in preparation for the Great Enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong.
Trained by her people from a young age in tactics, espionage, and leadership, when it was discovered she was Force Sensitive, holocrons of previous Force Adept Chiss instructed her. For 25 years she had been molded into the perfect Chiss.
When their spy network had heard murmurs of a brewing war, she had been introduced to Count Dooku, where for another year, she proved herself under the old man's grueling tasks, and emerged as the fledgling Supreme Commander of the CIS.
….a Supreme Commander that had been captured within 3 months of service.
All her life had lead up to that moment, and here she was, 29 years old, and nothing to show for it. The hopes and dreams of her mentors, her youth and love life. All wasted pursuing a dream that never came to be.
And so, imagine her shock when Mr. Mysterious shows up in front of her cell, and offers her hope.
Hope from a Jedi of all people!
Tann had at first thought it was one sick scheme, one intended to reveal information about the location of her homeworld and her people. The revelation of the Yuuzhan Vong by Revan was simply so outrageous, it had to be a trick!
So she flirted with him as a game, to see how far she could push his buttons, to see how much he truly needed her, how much he wanted her.
Quite frankly, it was kind of cute how he tried to play the tough silent type. Even if he wore a helmet, she noticed those not-so-sly glances her way.
Yet for all her efforts, he was perhaps too ignorant in a woman's charm, and remained closed off to her information gathering technique.
It wasn't until she had witnessed the dead clones, infiltrated the Inspectorate alongside him, and seen him preach the same type of story to the Imperial officers that she truly believed it wasn't a trap.
When she saw him fry that Umbaran bitch, Tann started to really respect Revan. That was a difficult foe that Tann begrudgingly admitted to herself, that against which, she would stand no chance.
From there, he caused chaos by releasing the prisoners, easily dispatched his foe, saved her from clone assassins, and respected her wish to 1v1. To top it all off, he had crippled the Imperial economy all by himself.
Tann admired such ferocity, cunning, and daring.
However, if she was to be the Supreme Commander, Tann knew she couldn't sit around and rely upon Revan's good will.
Well, she probably could, but Tann had her pride.
So when she was alone on the Millenium Falcon, she had researched the war via the HoloNet, and called up a few old contacts.
If she was going to return to that role, to assume the mantle of Supreme Commander, she would have to prove her mettle. To show the CIS she was worthy, and inspire fear into the Imperial dogs.
[ETA 1 Minute] A voice sounded from the intercom in her ship.
Looking out the viewing port on her ship, she saw a damaged shipyard where a dozen warships were docked. One of them was almost completely refurbished.
Tann savagely grinned to herself.
Revan had taught her a valuable lesson during his infiltration, to seek refuge in audacity.
Igniting her lightsaber, crimson light reflected off her ruby eyes, and a thousand battle droids behind her readied their guns.
[Impact in 10, 9, 8…]
Tann sharply inhaled, and primed herself for the upcoming battle. A cloud of darkness in the Force centered itself around her, and her focus became ice cold.
[7, 6, 5, 4…]
Anti-ship blaster fire began to make her ride shaky, and shudder. Hundreds of other small ships composed of the CIS remnant-a force mostly made up of organics who had risen from Coruscant's underbelly in rebellion-who had survived the battle of Coruscant, and had been laying low flew alongside her. Many of them exploded into thousands of tiny pieces, and Tann could feel their lives being snuffed out through the Force like candles on a cake. However, there were so many small shuttles that the shipyard’s point defenses were overwhelmed.
[Okay?]
A nudge entered her Force Bond, filling her cold heart with warmth, the mixture of emotions only serving to enhance her powers within the Force.
[Better than okay.] Tann sent back the feeling of slaughter, hot-cold warmth, and other undefinable senses that were only possible due to the Force Bond.
[3, 2, 1]
The hatch opened up, and Tann sliced through technicians, clone troopers, and repair droids as if they were blades of grass before her scythe.
Before long, she was on the bridge of a Venator, and a command droid was saluting her.
“We are prepared for take off, Supreme Commander, the charges have been successfully planted!”
Tann oozed confidence as she sank into the captain's chair.
“Do it.” Tann ordered.
“Roger, Roger!”
A moment later, explosives rocked 9 of the ships in repair, destroying: a minesweeper, a corvette, five light cruisers, and two Venators.
Escaping with a Venator, and two Acclamators, they had jumped into Hyperspace before the Imperial homefleet had time to react.
It felt good to be needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retreating to the mountainous, perpetually snowy fortress world of Stygeon Prime, the Separatist Ruling Council were discussing current events from within a chamber tens of miles below the surface.
Currently playing on a holo projector in front of them was footage of what had transpired on Mustafar.
Wat Tambor, leader of the Techno Union, had suggested they leave behind their body doubles, to wait and see what the Sith Lord's intentions were. To see how exactly this Darth Vader would protect them.
The footage was not kind. A slaughter had occurred, and Darth Vader was the man that they all feared.
Anakin Skywalker.
When they had first learned of this travesty, they had triggered a remote explosion, one that destroyed the entire facility. However, the blasted Sith had once again survived against all odds.
Satellite imagery then captured an epic duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, proving without a shadow of a doubt that Vader had betrayed the Jedi.
When the satellite imagery had captured footage of Sidious rescuing the crippled Anakin Skywalker, that had been the nail that sealed the coffin.
As soon as the footage ended, Nute Gunray, Viceroy of the Trade Federation, and leader of the Nemoidians was quivering in his seat.
After having his position secured by the Sith Lord, Gunray had placed his unequivocal trust in Sidious. That cloaked man had provided Count Dooku, Grievous, and Ventress to the cause. Generals without peer.
When Sidious had promised peace, Gunray wholeheartedly believed in the offer. However, the evidence presented before them was damning. This attempted murder was a statement of intent.
One that had left him almost hysterically within a state of perpetual fear. A fear that was mimicked by at least half of his fellow council members.
“Doomed, we are doomed!” Gunray wailed into his hands.
“Trade is down 25%, pirates have grown emboldened, and the safety of the hyperlanes are under threat. Our colleague from the Trade Federation may be uncouth in his speech, but he is not wrong.” Shu Mai, leader of the Commerce Guild spoke up.
“Perhaps not as doomed as you seem to think.” Po Nudo, leader of the Hyper-Communications Cartel spoke up, and steepled his hands.
“Mnnn'chuck, Nundo is correct. The blockade over Geonosis has been destroyed by an mmm'krah, astrological anomaly, freeing my people and factories to work once again.” Poggle the Lesser added.
“We have all seen the reports, the entire surface population is dead, and over half your factories weren't deep enough, and are inoperable!” Gunray shouted in an accusatory tone, and pointed a finger.
“Mmm'Cha! So long as a Geonosian draws breath, the CIS will not bend, unlike you spineless Nemoidians. So long as the shipping lanes are maintained, we can produce between 10-20,000 battle droids a day!” Poggle slammed down his staff, and mocked.
“I do not have to stand for this!” Gunray rose from his seat, and moved to leave.
“Oh sit down, would you? None of you have any sense of the macro scale of this conflict. Did none of you read the report Revan sent us? Do none of you grasp the damage done by Galactic Bank?” San Hill, Chairman of the Intergalactic Banking Clan uttered in a condescending tone.
“What does that have to do with anything? Revan may have warned us, but he is a Jedi, untrustworthy!” Gunray said in a hurried tone.
“Fine, do not let me stop you. I simply thought the Trade Federation was more interested in profit. One wonders what the shareholders on Neimoidia will think when they have missed out on this deal.” San Hill steepled his fingers, and bade Gunray to depart.
Yet for all the Muun's seeming geniality, Gunray was still sane enough to recognize a threat when it was being issued.
“What do you mean?” Gunray said hesitantly.
“Take a seat my good Viceroy, and listen.” San Hill gestured.
Glancing left and right at his fellow councilors, Gunray knew he made himself out to be a fool, but swallowed his pride as every eye seemed to be trained on the Muun. Doubtlessly San Hill had something important to say.
“Very well.” Gunray eventually bit out, and retook his seat.
“Excellent. Now, as was written in the report, the Empire is currently in an economic free fall, their logistics are paralyzed, and this has cast a domino effect hamstringing their entire war effort. Gentlemen, now is the time to dig in, to reinforce the line. To gather new allies to our cause. Our colleague Rogwa Wodrata was a former Republic Senator, Wodrata, if you would?” San Hill spoke in a clear, condescending tone, and then inclined his head towards Wodrata.
The Holwuff grinned a mouthful of canine teeth at Hill, and shook his shaggy mane.
“I have been in contact with senators averse to Palpatine's rule. My friend, grrr, Bail Organa of Alderaan has been the most vocal. As such, I have a meeting scheduled in which a marriage of sorts may occur between us and the Republic sympathizers. Awoo!” Wodrata finished his statement with extreme zeal, and pounded the table with a shout of excitement.
“Mnnn'chuk. We have been given time to rebuild, and rearm, yet we lack nnn'kpcha a competent military commander. The tibanna gas of Onderon, the starfighter factories of Mygeeto, and the hyperlane route at Felucia all remain under siege. If we are to resume this war, these strategic resources must be secured.” Poggle sharply intoned.
The various councilors began to loudly argue amongst themselves, when Wat Tembor received a text message, and after some back and forth, decided to broadcast it to the room.
A second later, a holographic image of a Chiss appeared above the table.
“What is the meaning of this? This was one of Dooku's disciples! A pawn of Sidious!” Gunray exclaimed in fearful recognition.
“An asset detailed in Revan's report.” San Hill derisively snorted. “But the question remains, why should we trust you to lead our armed forces?”
Tann smirked, and then the hologram shifted to show the wreckage of an Imperial fleet, and a planet in the background.
“Is that Onderon?” A councilor questioned in disbelief.
“You don't really have a choice, do you?” The Chiss woman smiled sweetly.
The councilors glanced at one another, and came to a silent consensus.
“Very well, welcome home, Supreme Commander Severance Tann.”
~~~~~~~~~
AN: As a reader, I hate getting bogged down in interludes. That being said, we'll have one more after this one with the Jedi accompanying the MC and their POVs. I think I'll save Vader/Maul & Order 66 survivors for later?
Comments
Michael DiVelbiss
Another enjoyable chapter. Hahaha! XD That's too funny Tann managed to surprise one of the 3 key battlegrounds and win it back for the CIS just to barge in and make herself the most important VIP blue chip back in their corner and win back Supreme Commander status. Good on ya, blueberry. XD Now to simply reclaim Mygeeto and Felucia and it's like they never lost! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Cesar gonzalez
Don’t want to be that guy but currently maul doesn’t have the underworld under his thumb yet. He did during the clone wars but lost it after the siege of mandolor. It took him a few years to get them all back in line so if the MC is quick enough he can have them swear their loyalty to him since the heads of all those criminal organizations are either dead of in prison.
Karp
That's what I did with tomorrow's chapter. It's 2x as long as average chapters. Narrativley speaking, I like to keep like with like. Mixing a Palpatine POV with Tann's in one chapter wouldn't feel right. But in principle, I agree. Good take.
Wanderingsock
Doing them in big chapters is best, it’s gets the world building out there and doesn’t interrupt the flow for multiple days
Deathknight134
Understandable if you dislike getting bogged down in interludes. Sounds like a good plan.
Aeden Emrys
Thanks for this interlude! Very nice 👍 developments on Severance Tann's side! I'm looking forward to reading much more of this greatly interesting story!
