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Dodonna’s eyes widened. “Two of her?”

“Yes, General. Now you know why we need you back.” Corran tossed the General his blaster pistol, pulled the comlink from his helmet, and clipped it to his flight suit’s lapel. He tossed the helmet on the General’s cot, then turned and poked his blaster carbine at the guard. “Can you pop the rest of these cells?”

“Some.”

“Good, get them open and I’ll get the rest.” Corran crossed the hallway and started slashing open cells. A motley assembly of individuals slowly shambled out. Some he recognized from his time on Lusankya. Forty cells produced a total of ninety prisoners.

“Is this everyone, General?”

Dodonna squinted, then nodded. “We all managed to communicate despite the guards’ best efforts to the contrary. A few here weren’t on the Lusankya, but Krennel had them imprisoned for political crimes.”

“Well, you’re all free, courtesy of the New Republic.”

Nrin’s voice rose above the husky cheering. “Corran, come here, fast.”

Corran sprinted back toward the stairwell and immediately identified the reason for Nrin’s yell. Both he and Ooryl stood at the corner hole in the wall, shooting down into the stairwell. Shots were coming back up at them, but they managed to dodge back before any burst could hit them.

Ooryl pointed at the hole. “Guards and stormtroopers have worked their way up the stairs. We’ve been keeping them back. I think they’re going to get a door from below to use as a shield.”

“Got it.” Corran pointed two of the Lusankya prisoners at the dead guards. “Get their blasters and come with me.”

He ran over to the stairway and dropped to one knee. He stabbed his lightsaber into the top landing and cored out a big circle. It dropped down three meters, clanging off the heads of some stormtroopers who fell back down the stairs. Thrusting his blaster into the hole, he triggered a burst that danced two guards back against the wall, then left them twitching on the landing a half a floor below.

He leaped back as a flurry of shots burned up at him. The blaster bolts chewed flaming holes in the wall and scattered hot shards of ceramic tile all over. Corran felt a sting on his right cheek and his hand came away bloody. He fired another burst down the hole, then pulled back and let the two freshly armed prisoners take over.

Halfway between that hole and the other one, he met General Dodonna. The older man studied the situation for a moment, then nodded. “One stairwell was put in to limit access of the prisoners here to any escape routes. If there was a riot, however, the guards probably would have come through the roof to deal with us. Your lightsaber can cut us an opening to get out, but what then?”

Corran shrugged, dousing his lightsaber and hooking it to his belt again. “I don’t know. Let me ask.” He keyed the comlink on his lapel. “Five, we have the prisoners, but can’t get down the northwest stairwell. We’re going to the roof. Can you get us off it?”

“Negative, Nine. Things are hot up here. We’ve got a dozen TIEs inbound and there is ground traffic. Looks like the local answer to CorSec coming to contest your hold on the prison.”

“I’m not liking what you’re saying, Five.”

“I’m not terribly keen on it myself, Nine.” A certain amount of strain came through Tycho’s voice. “Krennel’s got us outgunned up-atmosphere, so you may well be in the best position of all.”

“Youch! I copy, Five. Let me know when help is available.” Glancing over at General Dodonna, he shook his head. “If you have any ideas, General, I’m open to them. After all, you saved the Rebellion at Yavin. By comparison, this should be child’s-play.”

Wedge smiled as he keyed his comlink. “Nine, he saved the Rebellion by putting pilots in the right place at the right time. One Flight is inbound. Standby.” He flicked the comm unit over to the flight frequency. “Two, Three, and Four, join Five and Six tackling those TIEs. I’ll take care of the incoming ground troops.”

“As ordered, Lead.”

The other three Defenders peeled off, breaking starboard to intercept the TIE formation closing fast on Tycho