Star Wars: The Bane Of Hope (Varados trilogy book 2)

Prologue:

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2987 BBY, The Fender, docked on Tatooine

"Push forward, we must get to the Carbonite chamber! Our intelligence suggests that Darth Varados is frozen there!" Kronos E2-01, an experimental robot-human hybrid, yelled to his troops. They were fighting the robot guards that were programmed to protect the ship from intruders.

"We're facing some pretty heavy opposition here, sir!" Hades E2-02, Kronos' second in command, and one of only three cyborgs (Kronos included) on the team, said.

The team mainly consisted of I7 series combat droids, with the only exceptions being Kronos, Hades, and a third cyborg, named Thanatos E2-03.

Manufactured by Mythos Cybernetics Corporation, the E2 series Cyborgs were the successor to the failed E1 series, which within moments of their activation, had a complete breakdown, causing them to kill almost everyone at the lab. Only a handful of guards and 2 scientists lived. The rest of the 6 person team was killed.

After a few minutes of fighting, a droid near Kronos reported in. "Sir, the opposition seems to be waning. We are close."

After a few more minutes of fighting, the last few droids went down, and the group neared the carbon freezing chamber. When they got to the door, it opened, revealing a room full of people frozen in Carbonite beyond this room. In the center of the room stood a humanoid being, fresh out of Carbonite. The armor that they were wearing protected them from the effects of carbon freezing.

"Halt, intruders. You are not welcome here. You must leave, or I will kill you." The figure said.

"Hey, we're just trying to get a meeting with Darth Varados, if he's even real. This is his ship, The Fender, right?" Kronos said.

"This is, in fact, The Fender. Unfortunately, you may not meet with him now. If you're still alive in about 400 years, then maybe we'll reconsider." The figure said.

"Tell me, what's your name? I know you must have one." Kronos asked, trying to be civilized.

"I am not telling you." The figure responded.

"If that's how it's gonna be, then let's fight." Kronos said as he drew his blaster.

The figure grabs a matte black cylinder from their waist. The cylinder has what look to be horns or spikes protruding from one end of the cylinder. They press a red button located near the protrusions, which is the only other color on the hilt, and a red blade sprouts from the end of the cylinder. Kronos shoots at the figure multiple times, but the figure deflects the shots and jumps into the air, sword raised, and lunges at Kronos. Kronos shoots up at them, but all of the shots miss. The figure attempts to slice straight through Kronos, but before they can land, Kronos ducks and rolls out of the way. The figure pursues him, and swings their saber at him. Before the blade can collide with Kronos' neck, a blast hits the figure's saber. The blade flickers off and the hilt skitters across the floor. Kronos takes advantage of his foes' momentary disadvantage and fires at them. One of the blasts scores a hit on the figure's knee.

They collapse, clutching their wounded knee, and Kronos stuns them. "Hades, Thanatos, heal the intruder and get their name. I'm going to the most prominent carbonite block." Kronos says. "Yes, sir." the others reply at the same time. Kronos walks into the center of the room. There lies a block of Carbonite. Kronos unfreezes the block of carbonite, and a figure falls out.

When he gets up, he says, "Hello. I am Darth Varados. Now, unfortunately, you are trespassing, and you have discovered my identity. I cannot have anyone knowing about my plans. Therefore, I must kill you." Varados says.