Jinn crossed to the blast doors separating him from his two youngsters in three long strides and placed a strong, square hand flat against it. He stood a moment with head bowed then looked over at Aiton. "I've told Luke and Mei-Qan to join your men in the power core. They'll make their way to the hanger by an alternate route."
Told them? through a meter thick neutro-titanium door? Yet somehow Aiton didn't feel inclined to doubt him. "Right." he opened a channel. "Nentres, Luke and the girl are on their way to you. Don't blast them, okay?"
Jinn moved to face the blast doors blocking their way to the hub, Naberrie joined him.
"We'll rendezvous at the hanger." Aiton continued into his comlink. "Don't start anything without us, it'll take a while to burn our way through -"
Just as Jinn and Naberrie simultaneously ignited their sabres and plunged the glowing green blades hilt deep into the doors. Aiton's jaw sagged as the metal began to glow and run casting a red light over the two Jedi's calm, intent faces.
"Cap'n? you still there?"
"Yeah.....maybe this won't take as long as I thought. Aiton out."
Darklighter was standing, back to the doors, those chill pale eyes fixed on the corridor behind them, his lightsabre held at the ready in one hand. Obviously he was expecting trouble and he was probably right - surely the Mandalorians wouldn't depend on just the doors to stop them. Aiton began watching the corridor too, but even so Darklighter spotted the threat seconds before he did.
"Master, destroyers!"
In an instant the other two Jedi had whipped their lightsabres free of the now gently glowing doors and aligned themselves beside their comrade.
A trio of faintly insectoid droids rolled up like wheels, then uncurled and opened fire. Instinctively the troopers hit the deck but the droids ignored them, concentrating their fire on the three Jedi - who stood in a row, their lightsabres a blur, as they deflected the bolts back to explode ineffectually against the droids' shields.
'So that's why the Mandalorians didn't shoot at them!' Aiton thought, enlightened, as he scrambled back to his feet.
"I think your turbo lasers might be of help here, captain." Jinn said calmly, batting blaster bolts like they were balf balls.
"Oh, sure. Sergeant, give them five rounds rapid."
It took two rounds to eliminate the shields and the other three to reduce the droids to scrap. Whereupon Jinn and his partner calmly resumed carving the blast doors like they were day old Bantha cheese and Darklighter went back to watching the corridor.
"What were those things?" Aiton asked him.
"The Droidekaas? Heavy duty combat droids, a bit outdated but not ineffective."
He could say that again.
"These are the first I've seen since the wars." Jinn put in. Aiton turned to see that the two Jedi had finished cutting a large circular hole in the blast doors but the metal was still lambent, it would be a minute or two before it cooled enough for them to go through. "Towards the end the Mandalore were using them to augment their numbers."
"Are there likely to be more down here?"
"I don't doubt it." Jinn smiled. "But with your heavy lasers they shouldn't be a problem."
Aiton found himself grinning back. It was good to feel they weren't entirely useless after all.
'Luke, join the stormtroopers in the power core and make your way to the hanger from there.'
"Yes, Master" he responded out loud, though he knew Dai-Men couldn't hear him, then turned to Chani. "You get that?"
She nodded. "Let's go."
The stormtrooper Lieutenant was expecting them, having been alerted by more mundane means. "You can lead us to the hanger?" he asked Chani a little dubiously.
She smiled up at him. "No problem. Luke and I did the recce, we know this place." Suddenly she spun away, sabre igniting as she turned, to block an incoming blaster bolt just in time.
A split second later Luke was at her side, helping ward off the sudden barrage from the other side of the core shaft and experiencing a distinct feeling of deja vu. Behind them the stormtroopers recovered from their astonishment and joined in, returning fire.
Luke could deflect laser or blaster bolts just fine but he couldn't direct the ricochets, not yet. That would come with practice Master said but for now he had to be satisfied with hitting things at random. Still - Chani's precisely placed returns didn't seem to be doing any more good than the troopers' counter-barrage.
"They must have a shield generator!" Nentres snarled, frustrated.
"Agreed." Chani concurred calmly. "If we could get behind them -"
"I think I can arrange that." Luke grinned. Deja vu had it's uses. He borrowed a grappling line from a trooper and stood twirling it, trying to pick out a good anchor point.
"You're not serious." Nentres said disbelieving. "They'll shoot you down as you cross."
"No they won't." Luke assured him absently. He threw, gave the line a tug to see it was secure and held an arm out to Chani. "C'mon."
She hooked her lightsabre on her belt and wrapped her arms around his neck just as Leia had done all those years ago. He remembered her quick kiss 'for luck' and Chani must have picked the image out of his mind because she promptly followed suit, but this was no chaste peck on the cheek!
Those few stormtroopers who could spare the attention from the firefight hooted appreciatively. Ears burning Luke kicked off. They swung gracefully across the abyss and into a sub-hallway one level down from their attacker.
By that time he'd gotten his breath and some composure back. "What'd you do that for?"
"Just establishing my claim." Chani replied sweetly.
He didn't have the nerve to ask what she meant by that.
She glanced quickly around the little bay. "Let's take the shortcut."
Luke followed her gaze to an opening high in the wall. "Not again!"
Chani grinned wickedly. "What do you think ventilation shafts are for?"
It wasn't Mandalorians but some weird kind of droid Luke didn't recognize.
"Droidekaas!"
"What?" he looked down at his partner.
A sort of battle droid," she explained sotto voce, "you don't see them much these days. They've got shield generators."
"Then how do we stop them?"
Chani's answer was to step out of cover and address the two droids' backs. "Excuse me, but is this the way to the Ysalmi overpass?"
Huh?
The two insect-like machines wheeled around. Luke hastily stepped to her side just as they opened fire. Blaster bolts ricocheted off lightsabre blades and droid shields to score the walls around them. "It's a standoff!" he said.
"Not quite." Chani answered, and took a step forward. The droid facing her backed off to maintain maximum effective firing distance.
Enlightened Luke followed suit, as did his droid. He tossed a quick grin at Chani, maybe she wasn't crazy after all.
Step by step they edged the two droids backwards...through the portal and onto the ledge, then one followed by the other went backward into the gulf still firing as it fell.
"Ysalmi overpass?" Luke asked, watching them tumble down the shaft.
"A pedestrian way on Coruscant." Chani explained. "Just something my grandmother used to say when she wanted to draw attention to herself." She took out her comlink.
"Lieutenant? where are you?"
"One level down from you." came the answer. "We crossed while you were keeping those whatever-they-weres busy. What the hell?" that was directed off link and with a note of alarm. "Everybody back! Kurtiz, hit the doors!"
Luke saw it coming too, a fireball zooming up from the depths of the core shaft, and pulled Chani clear of the doorway and down onto the deck.
Superheated air surged over them in the instant before the safety doors slammed, containing the explosion. Luke sat up, coughing and choking on the smell of burnt wool, to beat out the sparks smouldering on his robe and hers with his hands.
"Lieutenant, are you all right down there?" Chani demanded of her comlink.
"A little singed," came the slightly shaky answer, "but otherwise okay. No criticism intended, ma-am, but those droids must have hit something important going down."
"And judging by the results I'd say the Mandalore haven't kept up their safety systems." Both she and Luke looked up as the lights flickered. "Uh-oh."
"Overload." Luke said, grimly. "It's going to blow."
"We'd better get out of here." Chani agreed.
"Master."
Dai-Men took out his comlink. "Yes, Mei-Qan."
"The main reactor's been damaged - I estimate we've got from five to fifteen minutes before it goes critical."
He came to a full stop and glared sternly down at the inoffensive comlink. "Mei-Qan Kenobi!"
"I didn't do it!" she protested, "it was a pair of droidekaas."
He closed his eyes. "Are you clear of the outer ring?"
"Yes. We've sealed the blast doors behind us - the intact ones that is." a little return dig at the Master.
"That'll buy us some time." he said. "We'll be at the hanger soon."
"Meet you there."
Dai-Men returned the comlink to his belt shaking his head. Just like 'Rila, like Teacher like Apprentice. "When we get to the hanger you and your men head directly for the Falcon." He instructed Captain Aiton. "We're running out of time."
Lando detected a shift in focus on the part of the enemy. Though now supported by a half dozen weird looking war-droids the Mandalorians were no longer trying to drive the invaders out but to get past them to their ships. He shook his head in wonder. Somehow Jinn and his crew had spooked them into retreat.
Then the main doors blew open and five brown robed forms came skirling through like autumn leaves driven by a gale. Lando had never seen a lightsabre before but had no problem recognizing the glowing bars of light in the Jedi's hands. The Mandalorians spun around and opened fire but - unbelievably - the five brown robes caught the bolts with their sabres and sent them right back into the Warriors' teeth!
"I see it but I don't believe it!" a nearby hardback gasped.
"You and me both, brother!" Lando agreed fervently.
Leia tugged impatiently at his sleeve. "C'mon, Lando! this is our chance to get Han."
"Yeah, right." Lando scrambled up and followed the Princess and Chewy away from the melee.
No doubt about it the Mandalorians had panicked. Not that Aiton blamed them. After warding off the initial volley Jinn and the girl, Kenobi, cut their way into the armored ranks, a pair of whirlwinds with lightsabres, while the other three Jedi fended the droids' fire away from the troopers.
"We can take them out with the turbos!" Aiton shouted to Naberrie over the sizzle and boom.
The Jedi shook his head. "We can't afford the time. We'll cover you to the ship."
Right. Aiton had forgotten for a moment that this whole place was set to blow at any minute. "All units this is the Captain, Pull back and make for the Falcon."
Leia led her little band straight as a crossbow bolt towards Slave 1 but Fett was on an interception course, also making for his ship. He saw them and opened fire.
Lando tackled the Princess, knowing there was no cover, that this time Fett was going to get them - then a Jedi materialized in front of them warding off the blaster bolts with his lightsabre.
"Luke!" Leia gasped with what was left of her breath.
"Luke?" Lando repeated in disbelief.
"Rowlff?" Chewy echoed, equally astonished.
But Luke it was, fielding Fett's barrage with his blade flashing at an unbelievable speed. It had been an impressive sight from across the hanger, up close it was dazzling. Lando's opinion of young Skywalker revised upward.
"Get back to the Falcon." he ordered, never taking his eyes off Fett.
"No!" Leia screamed, "Han -!"
Chewy roared his support.
"Leia, the reactor's gone critical - this place is going to go any minute.
"But -"
"If we're still here Han dies too. The carbonite won't protect him against a reactor blast!"
"We can catch Fett in space with the tractors, Princess." Lando put in urgently.
Choking back sob of frustration Leia saw sense and turned and ran for the Falcon. Chewy and Lando chasing after her.
Luke remained en-gard at their backs but Fett, seeing them retreat, ducked hastily into his ship. The thruster backwash fluttered Luke's robe and hair as Slave 1 lifted off.
Extinguishing his lightsabre he headed back to the other Jedi.
Light fixtures and wall panels exploded in showers of sparks as power surges overwhelmed their circuits. The sound of larger explosions echoed through the open hanger doors. Luke joined his four companions as the Falcon lurched into the air heading for the ceiling opening along with five or so smaller craft carrying the remaining Mandalorians.
"Find a ship." Dai-Men ordered crisply.
"See anything that looks good?" Chani asked Luke.
He scanned the remaining vessels, spotted an adapted y-wing and grinned. "Yeah, c'mon."