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

Chapter Thirteen: The Aftermath

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6004 ABY, Danaan forest

"Sir, three Schism shuttles just crashed about five kliks outside of the main gate. They must be new, because the kill order went out days ago." Xann Gal reported to Varados, who was in a Bacta tank.

Varados nodded in reply.

All of a sudden, a computer screen next to the tank turned on. It displayed some text.

"Send search teams 1-12 out to search the forest. Have platoons 18-33 ready in case something happens. Stay at base. - Varados" Was what the text displayed.

"Yes, sir." Was all that Xann said before walking out.

Xann relayed Varados' orders to the troops, but added a new one.

"Varados said that I was to lead the search parties as well as the reserve troops." Xann lied.

"Yes, sir." A trooper replied.

The group went out together until they reached the gates. That was where they split up. From there, Xann and his group walked towards the third crash site. As they approached, they saw light coming from the direction of the ship. They walked closer and saw that the light was actually sparks flying. Someone was there.

"Hey! You there! Hands in the air, now!" Xann yelled, aiming his blaster at the ship.

In response, the shuttle crew shot at them.

"Everybody down, NOW!" Xann yelled at his troops. He then pulled out his comm and called for backup. "Requesting backup at crash site three, repeat, requesting backup at crash site three, over!"

"Roger that. Sending units to all crash sites now." The person on the other line replied.

When Xann looked back at the fight, he counted only ten troops of the original sixty remained. They wouldn't last much longer. in the distance, Xann could hear the rumble of wheels in the distance. He turned back in time to see the second to last trooper go down.

"How has that shuttle crew lasted so long?" He wondered aloud. He risked a glance at the shuttle. He looked and almost got shot in the head, causing him to duck down again. What he had seen was that none of the shuttle crew had been killed. Moments later, the reinforcements had arrived. Thirty-five armored JX-7 Troop Carriers and five JX-12-T Heavy Tanks emerged from the forest. A total of one hundred and seventy-five troopers disembarked from the troop carriers. As they got off, a heavy cannon, controlled by the shuttle crew, started firing into the groups of soldiers. Troops were gunned down as soon as they exited the transports. Troopers were dropping fast, and a few well-aimed missile shots had disabled the tanks. After about a minute, one of Xann's soldiers shot a box, and a shield dissolved around the shuttle. The shield generator exploded, destroying the heavy cannon and killing the person controlling it. The remaining shuttle crew were killed off shortly afterwards. Once they had confirmed that there were no more Schism troops, the troops got all of the information that they could off of the shuttle. Then filled it with explosives and set up a shield around the ship so that when they blew it up, they wouldn't burn down the forest accidentally. After they were done with all of that stuff, they tended to the wounded and tallied up the dead. In total, they lost two hundred and two soldiers, five tanks, and twelve transports. Another twenty-two were wounded. Once everyone was accounted for, dead and alive, they headed back to base. At the other shuttles, another seventy-two died and twelve vehicles were lost.

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When Xann returned to the base, he was informed that Varados had summoned him. When he reached Varados' office, he saw Varados sitting on his bed.

"My lord. I was under the impression that you were still in the Bacta tank-" Xann was cut off by the invisible hand clasping his throat.

"Captain, why, oh why, did you disobey my direct orders?" Varados yelled, releasing his grip on Xann's throat.

"I-I-I th-thought that it would be a-a-g-g-g-g-good idea for me to-" Xann was once again cut off by the invisible hand clasping his throat, tighter this time.

"WHEN I GIVE YOU ORDERS, YOU FOLLOW THEM, CAPTAIN! NOW PEOPLE ARE DEAD, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR STUPIDITY!" Varados yelled, tightening his grip on Xann's throat.

"I will, next time, my lord." Xann barely managed to choke out the words.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THERE WILL BE NEXT TIME FOR YOU, CAPTAIN?" Varados yelled, releasing his grip on Xann's throat once more, but exchanging it for a grip on his head.

A look of fear passed over Xann's face, and he screamed as Varados used the force to crush his head.