The Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 80 - The Rescue Attempt

The next morning, Nomi contacted Leebo via a secure channel before going to Spero's shop where she would meet her friends. Glad to hear she was on Coruscant, Dash Rendar's droid listened intently to her plan.
"The Imps don't know where the Outrider is, Nomi," the droid said in his mechanical voice. "So flying it to where you need her and me won't be a problem."
"Thank you, Leebo. I have to go now and I'll call you. Prepare for a quick takeoff to fly the Outrider to the Imperial Palace."
Nomi pocketed her comlink, exited the room she had prepaid for, and made her way to the Southern Underground, where she would meet up with her friends at Spero's flower shop.

After reaching her destination, she entered the shop where the Ho'Din led her into the back room. Her friends were already there, armed to the teeth.
Nomi was too excited and the adrenaline was already pumping through her body that she didn't bother to greet them. She went straight to the crates containing the weapons, ammo and the thermal detonators. The young woman holstered the blaster, strapped on the bandoliers with the ammo, stashed the detonators and strapped the blaster rifle to her back. Then she turned to her waiting friends.
Talon Karrde stared at his friend because he had never seen such steely determination in her eyes before.
Lando Calrissian, this time dressed in more casual clothes than the day before, took the word.
"We should go now because we still have quite a long way to go," he said, motioning for the others to follow him.
Spero watched them go one by one, mentally crossing his fingers that they would succeed.

Lando led them away from the small marketplace. Since they were literally in Coruscant's underworld, they aroused no suspicion as they made their way to the access point where they would enter the sewers. To the casual viewer, they were just another bunch of mercenaries trying to make a living.
After half a standard hour, Lando turned right and entered a small alley. There he bent down and pulled on the grate that secured the sewers.
"Kark, it's stuck," he murmured under his breath as he tugged at the unruly piece of metal.
Eventually it gave way and Calrissian, surprised by this, almost fell backwards.
The grate rattled as it fell to the pavement. Talon turned his head and surveyed the area to make sure they hadn't drawn any unwanted attention. But everything remained calm.

Lando entered the sewers first, followed by Nomi and the others while Karrde closed the entrance before bringing up the rear.
They were greeted by a stench far worse than the Southern Underground's surface.
Slowly they moved forward, constantly fighting the rising nausea. In the dim light of the glow rods they had brought with them, the walls looked slimy. From time to time they saw movement out of the corner of their eyes. Possibly they were animals that lived down here and hastily retreated into the darkness.
After a tiring walk through the sewers, Lando stopped and pointed to the left.
"We reached our destination," he said. "The branch that leads to the Imperial Palace is behind the bars."
Apart from the metal bars, there were no security precautions, since apparently nobody expected an attack to come from there.
Nomi stepped forward and activated her lightsaber, casting an eerie blue light into the darkness. She didn't have the patience to wait for Lando to remove the bars. The young woman did a quick job cutting a hole in it for them to get in.
They entered carefully not to touch the red-hot remains of the bars.

Shortly thereafter, the rescue party was at the Imperial Palace and just one level below the detention block. Two stormtroopers stood there, talking idly, not paying much attention to their surroundings. That changed quickly when they faced ten armed assailants. The troopers raised their blasters and fired, but the two didn't stand a chance. It was a short fight before the way to the detention block level was clear.
But they were to meet stronger resistance there.
The troopers stationed at the entrance to the detention block must have heard the noise of the battle and were prepared. One of them sounded the alarm while the others opened fire. It wouldn't be long before reinforcements arrived.
Talon, Salla, Lando, and the others besides Nomi hunkered down and returned fire while the sirens wailed. The Jedi Apprentice stood in the line of fire with her lightsaber activated, deflecting the blaster bolts. The ricochets zigzagged through the hallway, hitting stormtroopers and walls alike. The display of the nearby turbolift showed that reinforcements were already on their way. Seeing this, made Nomi realize that she had to act quickly. She retreated to her friends, who kept firing at the stormtroopers. There she took one of the thermal detonators.
Karrde gave her a sideways glance while taking out another trooper.
"What are you up to?" He shouted because otherwise she wouldn't have understood him because of the noise of the fight.
"Cover me!" She yelled as well without answering his question.
"Ok!" The smuggler fired a salvo while Nomi activated the detonator, jumped up and threw it towards the turbolift before ducking again.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Talon muttered to himself.
The blast was deafening as the thermal detonator killed those stormtroopers unfortunate enough to stand near the turbolift, while the lift itself was completely destroyed.
"That should hold them up for a while. Now or never, Nomi! We'll keep the Imps off your neck," Lando shouted.
But there was no need to tell her because the young woman was already on her way.