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

Chapter Fifteen: The Crash

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6004 ABY, Glee Anselm

At the Schism base on Glee Anselm, something was going on. A large energy surge had disabled the power to the entire base, and an explosion shook the building.

"What is going on? What happened to the power?" Lanaa Bilee asked no one in particular.

"I think I know, ma'am." Captain Gemma Oruos said, hand raised.

"Speak, Captain." Lanaa replied.

"I noticed an energy surge that originated in the hangar, alongside an explosion. It was large enough to disable the entire base." Gemma reported.

"How could this happen?" Lanaa asked.

"I don't know. What should we do?" Gemma asked.

"I want you to lead a team to inspect the hangar. Talk to any survivors you can, and then lead a team to turn on emergency power." Lanaa ordered before walking away.

"Yes, Ma'am." Gemma replied before rounding up troops and heading to the hangar.

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When they arrived at the hangar, they saw what had happened. The ships had exploded, releasing a shock wave that had disabled the base's power, and an explosion that had destroyed almost all of the ships in the hangar. The ground was littered with bodies. as they ran in, Gemma heard a groan. She looked around, then her eyes locked on the horribly burned body of a hangar guard. The guard groaned again, then started coughing.

"Guard!" Gemma yelled, before running over to the guard. "We need a medic over here, stat! We're going to get you help, don't worry."

"I-I-I d-don't know if I-I'm g-g-going to m-make it." The guard replied, sounding scared.

"Yes, you are. I promise." Gemma told the guard as the medic arrived.

"Captain, I need you to move." The medic asked, their tone urgent.

"Roger that." Gemma said, pulling away reluctantly.

The team searched the rest of the hangar. They were wrapping up their search when they saw two more guards that had survived. One looked relatively unharmed, aside from a few cuts, minor burns, and bruises here and there, as well as a bruise and a large gash on their head. They were trying to help the other guard, who was a much different story. The other guard had one leg bent in ways that made it look almost cartoonish. Their other leg was separated from their body entirely. They also had burns covering most of their body. They were screaming in pain, and nothing seemed to ease their pain. The team, along with another medic, ran to the guards.

"Guard! Are you ok? What happened to this other guard?" Gemma asked.

"I don't know what happened. We were hanging out in the hangar, waiting to be called on for whatever reason, when the ships sent out a shockwave. That caused explosives in one of the ships to explode. I was lucky. I was in the hallway, coming back from the refresher when it happened." The guard said as the medic wrapped the burned trooper with gauze.

As the medics tended to the guards, the group walked back to the command center to report to Lanaa.

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After they reported their findings, they grabbed weapons to fend off against the deadly species of Glee Anselm. The group got on a boat and ventured deep into the swamp surrounding the base. They got to the next island, where they restored partial power to the base. Gemma heard rumbling, so she looked to the sky. There, she saw a ship that had been orbiting Glee Anselm descending upon the base, its lights off.

"That ship is going to crash into the base! We need to warn them!" Gemma yelled to the others in the power generator room.

The others ran out, and Gemma contacted the base.

"General, you need to evacuate the base immediately! One of the capital ships is about to crash into it!" Gemma said urgently.

"Roger that. Beginning evacuation now." Lanaa replied before cutting off the comm channel.

As soon as the comm was cut, the group got back on the boat and sped back to the base to help with the evacuation. As they approached the island, they saw that the ship was almost about to crash. They pulled up to the island and started to help the people fleeing the base. As the number of seats in the boat thinned, Gemma asked someone about Lanaa.

"Where is the General?" She asked a technician who was boarding the boat.

"She was still inside, directing people to the exits, last I saw." The technician replied before sitting down.

Gemma ran inside, asking anyone she could where Lanaa was. She finally found Lanaa, who was downloading the data from the central computers.

"General, we must leave right now! The ship could crash at any moment!" Gemma ran up to Lanaa.

"I will not leave until I have saved these schematics." Lanaa said, not looking up from the display, fingers flying across the keypad.

"General, we don't have time to save them! We need to go, now!" Gemma shouted

"I will not leave." Lanaa stated matter-of-factly.

"General, I'm sorry." Gemma replied.

"For what, Captain?" Lanaa asked.

"For this." Gemma said as she whacked Lanaa in the back of the head with the butt of her rifle.

After that, Gemma ejected the disc with the files on it and dragged Lanaa's unconscious body away. As she reached the boat, a guard helped lift Lanaa onto the boat. As the boat sped away, Gemma looked back at the base, just as the ship crashed into it.