Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 06_ Vortex - Denning Troy [144]
Han already had the next grenade ready. Since he was facing Jaina’s side of the balcony, he called her name and tossed it over her shoulder. She did not even need to switch to a single-handed grip. She simply fixed her gaze on the wall of guards lined up across the balcony in front of her, and the stun grenade flew toward them as though launched by a rocket. The sergeant saw it coming and managed to raise a hand to point before it detonated in the midst of his squad, leaving them motionless and piled atop one another.
Han turned and tossed the third grenade past Leia’s flank. She allowed it to hit the deck grating, then sent it bouncing down the balcony toward a squad of guards who—having the benefit of seeing what had become of their fellows—wisely gave up the fight and simply turned to flee. The detonation caught half of them anyway. Some continued to flee, stumbling down the balcony with their hands pressed to their ears, and some dropped in their tracks and began to writhe about on the deck grating. Those who had been lucky enough to escape unscathed simply continued to run.
Han started to reach for another stun grenade, but Zekk said, “Save it. We’ve convinced them.”
Han looked up to see the last group of guards withdrawing from view. He was about to check the status of Squad Saav’etu when he heard a sporadic clatter in the atrium. Being careful not to invite sniper fire by leaning over the rail, he peered out and saw a steady shower of blaster rifles dropping to the atrium floor. Jaina and Leia quickly began to add to the rain of weaponry, using the Force to hurl every GAS weapon in sight over the safety rail.
“Looks like we’re good to go,” Han observed. He glanced at the hatches hanging open on the side of the storage bunker. They were a good twenty meters away, and between ten and twenty meters above the atrium floor. “Question is, how do we get there? That’s a big jump—even for a Jedi.”
No sooner had Han asked the question than a happy tweedle sounded in the corridor behind them. A moment later, a panel beneath one of the hatches slid open. It was followed by another one on Squad Saav’etu’s level, and a pair of long catwalk bridges began to extend toward each access balcony.
“Artoo wonders if the bridges might help?” C-3PO translated.
“Yeah, good thinking,” Han said. He poked his head back into the cell corridor and looked down at R2-D2. “Think you can lock down access to the atrium around the bunker?”
R2-D2 replied with a long series of tweets and chirps.
“Artoo has convinced Xyn that you are rioting inmates attempting to take control of the detention center,” C-3PO translated. “The entire cellblock has been isolated. And the signal neutralizer has been deactivated to prevent you from using the storage bunker to evade surveillance. But I must say, I don’t think isolating the cellblock is a very good idea, Captain Solo. Now we’re locked inside with dozens of angry guards—and I’m quite certain that a few of them remain conscious.”
As C-3PO spoke, a flurry of blasterfire erupted from below, down in the atrium. Han spun around in time to see Yaqeel Saav’etu’s furry-headed form somersaulting through the air toward the still-extending catwalk, her amber lightsaber tracing a yellow cocoon around her as she deflected incoming blaster bolts. The sniper fire was answered by a volley of stun bolts from her companions, and by the time she landed the GAS guards had fallen silent. Jaina went next, her feet barely touching the safety rail as she bounded off it and Force-jumped onto the upper catwalk.
“You might have that backward, Threepio,” Han said, turning back to the droid. “It’s those poor noobs who are stuck in here …”
Han let the sentence trail off as the squeal of scraping metal rang out from the far end of corridor, sixty meters distant. He looked up and, through the hole by which the team had entered the building, saw one