Once Occlus has determined what these artifacts do, she will of course explain. It is a process that takes time, however. Dark side artifacts can be dangerous to experiment with.

...This one she recognizes though. It is a plague-spreader. Set it up near your enemy's home, activate it, then watch as it pulses virulently infective spores throughout the region.

"Oh, is that all," says the Grand Admiral of this object, sounding disappointed. "Are there any particular containment requirements?"

"A vacuum-tight seal. And don't let anyone mess with it. This looks like an insanity variant plague. Not particularly pleasant to experience, nor easy to contain once it is unleashed."

"Insanity variant plague. Interesting. Likely unusable, but interesting nonetheless. I'll prepare a location for its isolation - can I trust you will seal it?"

"It will be done."

"Excellent. Thank you, your services are appreciated."

Occlus packs the spreader away, but not before noting several possible avenues towards a cure, should one become required.

This is also appreciated. The several possible avenues will be sensibly cataloged and stored in the Imperial database if they are ever required in the future.

But for now, Thrawn believes they have a three pronged strike to launch?

The Imperial military forces are prepared. They await only their coordinator.

Their coordinator is outwardly the picture of calm assurance. Thrawn would like her on the bridge where she can be easily reached to relay changes in the battle or orders. Callida flatly informs him that that's a bad idea, because battle meditation is, to put it lightly, really really hard. Interruptions are not conductive to battle meditation, each one made will set her back and she'll have to play catch up to pick out the thousands of threads she dropped by paying attention to anything that isn't the battle meditation itself. If the Admiral really wants to be able to relay orders through Callida, Occlus will be connected to her, she can be on the bridge. If she consents to that.

Inwardly - well. She has only used it during ground battles, not space battles, and never on a scale so vast. Never three separate systems at once. She's - fairly certain she can do it, during her battle meditations on Ilum, even without Occlus's power, she felt she could extend it further. That there was more she could do. Still, she's nervous. Apprehensive. Looking for ways she can shore up her own lack of experience in advance, plans she could make, ways she could practice her own ability to multitask. So she meditates, stretches out to learn the Chimaera and how it functions. Reaching out to the other ships with the Force isn't particularly difficult, but seeing it in the detail she needs it harder. It'll be easier when she has Occlus's power to lean on, but it's better if she gets some practice in on that front with her own less generous stores.

And then all too quickly, it's time to conduct an attack. Well. Callida always was one to first learn how to crawl, and then start using that knowledge to figure out how to run. Right, okay. She can do this, as long as she doesn't think about how completely crazy and impossible it is. Yes. It's foolproof. Just as long as the fool in charge doesn't fuck it up. She minimizes risk; she'll be doing this from her room, with the lights and intercom off. Absolutely no one will be allowed to knock on the door. Some Sith like to set up some sort of incense when doing something like this, but that doesn't help Callida do anything but sneeze. A dark, quiet room will be all she gets. The door'll be locked, too, but not until she's begun borrowing power from Occlus.

"Ready, my lord," she says, softly, eyes closed. They have time before the star destroyers make the hyperspace jumps to the systems, but not overly much. Enough time to acclimate to the rush of power, though. Hopefully.

"Remember that in the meld we will be as one mind in the Force. You know how to guard your thoughts. Do not forget."

Occlus sends tendrils of connective power questing towards her apprentice's Force presence. They latch on with a sense of psychic pressure, and then the meld takes hold. Occlus's power feels like a deep lake, icy smooth on the surface but with a sense of roiling depths. Glassy, impenetrable surfaces ward off Occlus's thoughts and guide Callida along her way to tapping the power.

Callida does know how to guard her thoughts, so the rush of sheer utter glee at having this much power at her fingertips is - muted. It is muted. Muted and then carefully filed away because that is probably how she becomes one of the crazy Sith, and even if it isn't, Occlus would probably find it a bit annoying to have to deal with directly in her head.

Next is a (muted, again) sense of being a little out of her depth - how does she even use all of this. Callida uses her own personal power like a scalpel, carefully applying all of it with maximum efficiency possible. Avoiding leaving resources unused, trying to figure out how she can use everything she has in every clever way possible. Here, there's just - too much to use. She can't possibly use it all effectively, she'd either have to start throwing it around like a battering ram or leave some of it unused -

And then comes the discipline, telling all of the rest of this shit in her (their?) head to sit down and shut up because she has a job to do. She does not have a requirement to use all of Occlus's power efficiently, she just has to do her job and do it well with the resources offered. If she doesn't use it all, fine. One job. She can do it. And if she can't, well, that's Thrawn's fault really, he shouldn't have given her such an insanely impossible task as her starter. (Seriously, what was he expecting, not even a small scale battle first? Really? Straight to the big leagues? Whatever.)

She reaches out with the Force to find and catalogue her charges. To change the battlefield, one must understand the battlefield, especially with something as delicate and tricky as battle meditation. It's not a bludgeon, not a wave of rolling power, not a fog that envelops and suffocates everyone in it with cloying power. If she does her job right, non-Force users won't notice her presence at all. There will be no mysterious, inexplicable jump in raw morale and competency, no foreign fighting spirit taking root in the minds of the Imperial soldiers at Callida's command. The end result will certainly look like a massive jump in all of the above, but these are the ends achieved, not the means. The means are more subtle, more complicated. Dependent on what exactly is taking place in the battle itself.

When Callida had first begun practicing battle meditation, it had been by small manipulations through the Force. Nudging a blaster so that its bolt would miss or hit, helping someone find their balance when their feet failed to find purchase on shaking ground, subtly delaying soldiers so that their timing will be match with an opening. Entire battles can be won or lost by lucky shots and improved timing. She'd proven to be correct, but she hadn't realized at the time how correct she was, or how deep the well could go. Manipulating the aim of a blaster was useful, certainly, and Callida will never hesitate to do so if it looks like it would help, but she can do so much more. She's learned that there's much she can offer to the battlefield besides strokes of raw luck.

One of the fundamental nuances of a battle is that, despite the best efforts of commanders and tacticians, they are inevitably incredibly messy. The side that is the better organized, the faster to adapt to adversity and calculate what needs to be done and then how to do it will not have guaranteed victory, but will have an overwhelming advantage. To compensate for this, direct mind control is an option, certainly. Headed by a competent commander, a legion of perfectly controlled puppets can become a force to be reckoned with. But that's not how Callida particularly wants to affect those under her power. What she does is harder, more personalized. Helping a lieutenant cut through a cloud of confusion and fear to figure out what to do, aiding a soldier to look in just the right direction to spot a flaking maneuver by an enemy, and cutting back on miscommunication, ensuring that what someone meant is understood.

Some of the effects of battle meditation can be copied by direct control, but true battle meditation doesn't stifle the thoughts of those it aids. It helps them reach the potential already inherently present. Callida's only helping them think and react faster, communicate clearer, aim accurately. The deeds they do are their own. There's a lot to adjust to, when dealing with space combat instead of ground combat. More people to assist, more area to monitor, more factors to keep aware of. It's a lot to adjust to, but the principles are the same. She'll be very, very busy, but she knows the work.

And she can do it.

There we go. Her apprentice has the situation well in hand. A calm reassurance seeps from Occlus's crystalline walls of thought.

She quietly exits the room and seals the door. Now, to the bridge to observe the Admiral's half of this battle.

The Grand Admiral seems to have things in hand. Or, his subordinates do. The Grand Admiral himself is looking critically at a viewing screen.

"Darth Occlus," he says, turning around to face the Sith. "Is your apprentice ready?"

"She is. We await your word." Her voicy is as flatly calm as ever, despite the effort she is exerting to keep her thoughts from impinging on Callida's concentration.

"All fleet ships signal readiness, Admiral," reports Captain Pellaeon.

"Is my flagship ready, Captain?"

Pellaeon straightens slightly.

"The Chimaera is fully at your command, Admiral."

"Excellent. Prepare for lightspeed."

For this particular mission they created a signaling system, so that all ships can jump to hyperspace near simultaneously. The added coordination of Lord Callida is all well and good, but Thrawn does not want his Empire to be entirely reliant on a Sith's blessing to function to his standards. Useful tools though these surprisingly sane Sith might be, Thrawn would be a fool to rely on anything exclusively.

Time marks are sent to each detachment.

Occlus takes note of these, and at the appropriate moment passes a thought to Callida, bubbling smoothly through the erected barriers: Now.

Well of course it's now, Callida's been paying close attention to everything and has noticed the countdown to lightspeed for all ships present. But there's still a flash of confused discomfort despite this, because really, having all of the people you're watching fling themselves in different directions at speeds faster than light is somewhat disorienting.

She'll handle it, naturally, but with some displeasure. Blech.

Part of the purpose was to establish the principle of communication with something low stakes.

The hyperspace jump is not very long, a few minutes, at most.

At these distances, timing of the realspace reversion is of utmost importance. A half-second's delay can make all the difference.

Luckily they have their guardian Sith Lord, who will help them avoid delays entirely. No exiting hyperspace too close to planetary defenses or suns for these people.

(Seriously though, blech.)