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

Chapter Twelve: The Fight and The Chaos

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6004 ABY, Slaughter Group's mobile hangar, Aka Slaughter base, docked on the Elixir

The other three figures that had exited the ship earlier stepped forward, reaching towards their waists.

"Ah, yes. I believe that most of you have not yet met my other children, Atlas, Perseus, and Triton." Poseidon said, gesturing to the other three figures.

"All troopers, FIRE!!!" Butcher Five, Aka Geron Hartnol, yelled suddenly, firing off a few shots in the direction of Poseidon and his sons.

Perseus ignited his saber and blocked the shots back at Geron, with a few hitting him and the rest missing. He dropped to the floor, dead.

"NO!!!!" Geron's brother, Theron Hartnol, Aka Butcher Four, yelled.

That's when the chaos started. Twenty commandos exited the ship, firing at Theseus' troopers. The troops, who were Butcher Group's land forces and went by the name Blood Platoon, fired back, and one of the commandos fell, smoke rising from their head. Kronos drew his blaster and ran towards the wall, where he contacted that level's command center.

"We need reinforcements in Slaughter Base, now!" He yelled, shooting at the commandos.

"Roger that, sir." The voice on the other end replied.

Meanwhile, Varados had used the force to move crates, barrels, and other items to make barricades for troops to hide behind. After that, he attacked Poseidon. Around them, the carnage continued. Troops came pouring in from the entrance. The commandos went down fairly slowly, but at one point, there were no more left to kill. The two dueled relentlessly, neither gaining any ground against the other, neither tiring. At some point during the chaos, Poseidon got under Varados' guard and jabbed him in the stomach. Varados grunted in pain. He turned to Kronos, who was fighting nearby

"Kronos, take this. Use your training." Varados yelled.

Kronos turned and saw Varados lying on the floor, gesturing to his saber. Kronos used the force, pulling the saber into his hand, igniting it. He looked at Chrysaor, and Chrysaor looked back at him. Kronos nodded, and Chrysoar nodded back. Chrysoar turned and fired at his father. Kronos took this opportunity to lunge at Poseidon. Triton saw this, and lunged towards his father. He landed in front of Poseidon and blocked Kronos' blow. Poseidon stumbled away, fazed. Kronos and Triton were locked in saber combat. Kronos' strikes were wearing down Triton's defenses. Poseidon, realizing that the battle was lost, called his children back to the ship. Perseus and Atlas made it, and Triton kicked Kronos in the shoulder, causing Kronos to drop the saber. As Triton was running towards the shuttle, Kronos reached out with the force and pulled Varados' other lightsaber towards himself. As soon as he grabbed it, he activated it and threw it at Triton. The blade struck Triton in the chest just before he could get on the shuttle. Kronos grabbed the blade before anyone else could. Poseidon pulled Triton on board the shuttle, closed the doors, and took off while being shot at by Spectral Order troops. The shots did not pierce the shuttle's armor, though, and the shuttle flew off before jumping to hyperspace.

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As the shuttle jumped to hyperspace, Poseidon sat down, placing Triton's unconscious body next to him. He could feel Triton's presence fading.

"Perseus, does this shuttle have a Bacta tank or any Bacta spray on board?" He asked.

"No, we would have to stop off somewhere for that," Perseus replied from the bridge, "Why do you ask? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, but Triton was wounded trying to escape. I do not know if he will make it." Poseidon replied sadly.

"What?!!" Perseus yelled, "Atlas, where is the nearest Schism-friendly planet?"

"Ord Mantell. We could be there within thirty minutes." Atlas reported.

"Hopefully Triton will last long enough." Poseidon said.

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"Xann! Now is the time! Press the button!" Varados' voice from Xann Gal's comm that he stored behind his ear.

Xann pressed the button and ran away from the bridge and to his personal shuttle. After he got away, he spoke into his comm.

"Lord Varados, It is done. Send in the reserves." Xann said.

"Roger that. Good work, Agent Gal." Varados replied

Xann watched as fifty Spectral Order Star Dreadnaughts emerged from hyperspace, sending waves of fighters and barrages of laserfire towards the Schism fleet. Xann flew towards the planet below.