Luke wished more than ever that Leia were there...

"Sky!"

Luke jumped back to his senses in time to deflect a blaster shot. They were in the sheltered part of the corridor that led to the stairs that led to the lower decks of the complex. Ten more troopers guarded the entrace to the stairs. "Okay, this is getting rediculous. Who cares about survivors." Luke charged out and deflected all ten blasters. It was easier than the six remotes: 1) he was not blindfolded and 2) he knew exactly where the shots were coming from because the troopers weren't moving around. In seconds, the ten troopers were dead.

"Sky... did you have to...?"

"Buthain, when you've been in an all-out war with these guys for so long as I have been, you start to not really care if you kill them if it means that a few more of your own men will survive. Let's move."

Cir and Jim were not far behind Luke on their decent down the stairs. "Whadya think, Cir?" whispered Jimiaci to her brother.

"I think he's absolutely right, Jim. These jedi can hardly be called such anymore; prison has made them soft." Cir pushed forward to Luke. "Master Sky, though it may seem that the Empire didn't care about this prison, there are a total of over one hundred troopers on this base, plus Carnig."

"Well, we have Carnig. We got Borka, Caden, the eight from the grounds, the thirty from Carnig's guards, and the ten we just got at the stair entrace."

"But that's only fifty. We have fifty more to get through, and only you, Ezhno, Alden, Hateya, and Eron are useful with a lightsaber, and Hateya and Eron are back with some of the others guarding the prisoners from the grounds. Most of use just are out of practice, not that we were ever in combat practice to begin with."

Luke nodded. "I keep forgetting that you all were taken so young... But we can manage. I've been worse off. Ezhno, Alden, stay up front with me for now. When we reach a more open area, Ezhno protect the left side and Alden the right. Okay?"

"Got it."

"As you wish, Master Skywalker."

Cir shook his head. "I hate to be a downer, but can we really pull this off? With you, we have a total of fourty-one jedi. Hateya, Eron, and ten others are staying back with prisoners, so that leaves us twenty-nine with only three good fighters--you, Ezhno, and Alden."

Luke sighed and halted everyone. "Cir is right about one thing, everyone. We are vastly outnumbered in quantity and skill. I should have mentioned this before. I forget I'm not working with trained soldiers here." There were scoffs of indignation at that last comment. "This is dangerous and people may, and probably will, die. If you don't want to do this, then leave."

Buthain snorted. "And let you get all the glory, Sky? I think not. Besides, you don't think we'll let you get away with that soldier comment do you? We'll prove to you that twenty-nine half-trained jedi beat one hundred of your best soldiers any day!"

Cir threw his fist in the air. "Hear, hear to that!"

The rest agreed readily enough.

Luke nodded. "Then let's go."

At the bottom of the stairs was another corridor, this one more narrow than the last. Luke took lead and Cir took rear guard. Why do I have to take rear guard? Does he think I'm a bad fighter? There's no one coming from the rear...

Luke felt a disturbance... not a strong one, but one just strong enough to let him know that there was danger. "Everyone, spread out more." If they got attacked, the last thing they needed was to be clumped together.

Cir paused for a moment. "Why?"

Luke's reply was interrupted by blasters as three troopers dropped down from the ceiling tiles. A couple of the jedi toward the rear were quick enough to send their blasts back at the troopers, but not before several jedi were wounded... and one dead.

Han, Leia, young Tuari, and several other delegates of the New Republic were led to a secure undergroung facility. Their small cargo ship had been lucky enough to enter Mansurien space without being detected, the Tantive V being left just out of Imperial sensor range. Tuari sighed as political talk continued between Senator Leia and Lorien. I'm so bored... Why did I have to come along? 'Because the battle and diplomatic experience would be good for me...' Yeah, right... I think Leia senses something... But does that mean that something will happen to the Tantive V? Then why did she leave everyone else there! ... No... that can't be it... then what is it? They paused for a moment so that Lorien could talk to some security personel. Leia turned around to face Tuari.

"You wonder why I brought you here, young Tuari."

"... Yes, I do."

"Use the Force. What do you think?"

"... Danger..."

"And you wonder why I didn't evacuate the whole of the ship."

"Yes."

Leia smiled. "Use your senses. You will see."

Jimiaci backed away in terror and Luke knelt over Cirabein's limp figure, trying to feel a pulse. "Is he hurt bad, Master Sky...?" Jim managed to squeak out.

After a moment, he shook his head and looked up at Jimiaci. "He's dead, Jim." She fell into a fit of tears; Perdita rushed over to comfort her, but to no avail. Luke sighed and stood. "We need to keep moving... but we'll set his body aside and give him a proper burial when all the troopers are dealt with. I promise." Jimiaci didn't respond. "She's no good to us like this." He turned to the three injured jedi. "Are you hurt badly?" They all shook their heads. "Good; stay here with her. We will be back as soon as we can." He turned to the others. "At the end of this corridor is a wide open room, the main deck for everything. There are three branching corridors that lead to one more room each, so another three total, but each of those three additional rooms has three other floors below it. So: one main room, three small rooms, four decks per small room. Got it?" There were half-arsed nods and disbelieving smiles. Luke sighed. "Just follow my lead. Get into groups of..." Twenty-nine... minus one dead... twenty-eight... minus three injured... twenty-five... not including Ezhno, Alden, and me... twenty two... three groups would be two groups of seven and one of eight... "... groups of seven, seven, and eight. The eight weakest with me, and the two stronger groups of seven with each Ezhno and Alden--and now is not the time to lie about your skills. Got it now?" They all nodded. "Good."

It went over far easier than expected, ending with only one minor injury in Luke's group, and two moderate injuries in each Ezhno and Alden's. Then again, Luke was fighting dead-on and acting as a protector to the weaker jedi in his group, while Ezhno and Alden's groups were all acting like soldiers... Anyway, it was rather a mundane battle, as far as Luke was concerned. There were twelve troopers guarding each additional corridor to the smaller rooms with four levels and eleven guarding the immediate entrance that led them into the main room. Luke, Ezhno, and Alden easily killed those eleven. Then, as they moved into the main room, Luke charged forward, Ezhno charged left, and Alden charged left. It was over in no time. Ezhno and Alden were smart enough to follow Luke's lead and leave no survivors, not when they could join the other Imperials and rise up to challenge the jedi.

After tending to the wounded the jedi glanced around. There was one medium-class Rebel Prison Transport in the main room. That was it. They gathered around Luke, some asking him what to do next, some too stunned at their surroundings to even talk. "Spread out. Explore the three extra rooms--but only briefly--and report back here. All Imperials seem to be accounted for, but just in case, be on your guard."