**Chapter 472**
**The Atraken Gambit – Finale**
**Scene 1**
**Atraken Surface – Separatist Command Ruins**
The battlefield was finally quieting.
Dagon stood amid the smoking wreckage of the main Separatist command base, the Leviathan Krayt Dragon's distant roars echoing across the plains as it hunted down the last fleeing droid columns. Most of the girls had returned to the *Gray Wolf* for medical checks and rest, but Visenya had stayed with him.
Only Visenya.
She walked beside him in her sleek black-and-silver armor, blaster rifle held ready, her reporter instincts mixing with the growing warrior spirit Dagon had nurtured in her. The scratch on her cheek from earlier fighting was still fresh, a thin red line against her pale skin.
"You should have gone back with the others," Dagon said quietly, scanning the ruins.
Visenya shook her head. "I'm not leaving you alone down here. Not after everything."
They moved deeper into the collapsed command complex, stepping over broken droids and shattered vong biotech. The air reeked of scorched metal and alien ichor.
Then Dagon felt it — a wrongness in the Force. A presence that should not have been there.
He stopped abruptly.
"Visenya, behind me."
A shape detached from the shadows — a Neimoidian aide, or so it appeared. Tall, robed, with the characteristic elongated head and pale skin. But the eyes were wrong. Too sharp. Too predatory.
The "Neimoidian" smiled, revealing sharpened teeth.
Then the disguise melted away.
Vonduun crab armor rippled into view as the Yuuzhan Vong hunter revealed itself. Its face was a mass of ritual scars and tattoos, amphistaff coiled around one arm like a living whip.
Before Dagon could react, the hunter lunged.
Its amphistaff struck like lightning, piercing straight through the gap in Dagon's chest armor and driving deep into his side. Pain exploded through his body as the venomous serpent-weapon injected its toxin.
At the same moment, the hunter's coufee slashed across Visenya's cheek — a deliberate, mocking cut that drew a thin line of blood.
Visenya cried out, stumbling back.
Dagon's vision flashed white with agony, but the pain was nothing compared to the rage that followed.
**Scene 2**
The red star in Dagon's left eye blazed like a dying sun.
"You touched her," he growled, voice distorted by pure fury.
The Yuuzhan Vong hunter laughed — a wet, gurgling sound — and yanked the amphistaff free, ready to strike again.
Dagon moved faster than thought.
His black armored arm slammed forward, the Shield of Wrath igniting with cursed red flames. The hunter tried to dodge, but Dagon grabbed its throat with the dark limb, lifting it clear off the ground.
"You dare mark her?" Dagon snarled.
The flames around his body erupted violently. Red and black fire — the full wrath of the Demon Dragon Emperor — engulfed the Yuuzhan Vong hunter. The creature screamed as its vonduun crab armor melted, its flesh burning away in seconds. The amphistaff writhed and died in the inferno.
Dagon held the burning warrior aloft for a moment longer, then crushed its throat and hurled the charred corpse aside.
He turned immediately to Visenya.
She stood with a hand pressed to her bleeding cheek, eyes wide but steady. "Dagon… I'm okay. It's just a scratch."
He pulled her close with his good arm, the black armored one gently cupping the uninjured side of her face. The flames around him died down as he channeled healing energy into the wound, sealing it with a soft glow.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I should have sensed it sooner."
Visenya leaned into him, trembling slightly. "You saved me. Again."
Dagon held her for a long moment, the battlefield finally silent around them except for the distant cheers of Republic troops and the roar of the Leviathan claiming its new territory.
**Scene 3**
**Later – Gray Wolf Orbit**
Dagon stood on the observation deck, watching Atraken slowly turn below them. The planet was scarred, but alive. The Leviathan's presence had already begun to stabilize the ecosystem, its natural predatory role countering the worst of the Separatist damage.
The girls surrounded him — all eight of them, some still in armor, others in casual robes. They pressed close, hands touching him, bonds glowing warmly through the Force.
Shin rested her head on his shoulder. "You did it. Atraken is saved."
Ahsoka smiled up at him. "Starkiller strikes again."
Dagon allowed a tired but genuine smile. "We did it. Together."
Visenya touched the faint scar on her cheek, now healed but still visible. "We're stronger because of you."
As the *Gray Wolf* prepared to jump out of the system, Dagon felt the weight of the future pressing down once more. Vitiate. The Yuuzhan Vong. Skynet's shadow across realities.
But for tonight, surrounded by the women he loved, he let himself believe they could face it all.