RISE AGAIN ─ star wars

X. The Battle For Mandalore

Chapter Ten
Aylin

I've spent an hour bending and reshaping one of Iris's hair pins to make a suitable lock pick. Thankfully Mandalore hasn't upgraded it's prisons to be electric, they're still simply metal bars with a standard key lock, and our cuffs are similarly designed. Hopefully in a couple minutes I'll have the pin reformed enough to allow us all to get out of here.

"I'm not trying to rush you or anything but can you hurry this up?" Han asks from where he's seated a few feet away, his arms wrapped around his bent legs.

Holly shoots him a look. "You pressuring her isn't going to help, Han."

"And your giddy optimism will?"

"Don't be an ass." Jay responds quietly from where he's chained to the wall behind us.

"It would be great if you could just use the force and get us out of here." Han replies, looking over his shoulder at him.

Jay rolls his eyes, flicking his wrists in what I assume is meant to be an exasperated flail of his arms. "Yeah I'll get right on that."

"I wish Chewie were here, he could just break down the door." Han now complains, making me let out an exasperated groan.

"If you don't shut up I'll shove this pin up your ass and really give you something to complain about."

Han grumbles but falls silent, allowing me to continue twisting the pin, and after a few more twists, I come to the conclusion that it's ready for a test run. I gesture for Iris to come closer to me and she does, extending her bound arms out for me to access the cuff's lock. I stick the pin inside and begin jiggling the lock, just like Leera had taught me, and then suddenly I hear a click, and then the cuffs fall off.

"I had complete faith in you!" Han whisper shouts in glee, causing all of us to direct glares his way.

I pick the other's locks and pretty soon all of us are free, including Jay, who once free from his bonds, falls to the floor and struggles to get to his feet. Han and Holly dive pick him up together and wrap his arms around their necks, but even they struggle keeping him on his feet.

"What the hell did they do to you?" Han asks, purely out of concern, not as a complaint.

"It's best not to relive it." Jay replies, sounding exhausted.

I go over to the door and unlock it just in time for a trooper to pass by and notice. Before he can so much as shout or grab his blaster, Bo Katan runs out of the cell and rams into him, knocking him to the ground. She grabs the blaster attached to the trooper's belt and hits them in the head with the butt of it. Once she's sure they're knocked out, she and I both drag them inside the cell and then lock them in. Han and Holly carry Jay towards the prison's exit, while Bo, Iris, and I find the storage area where our weapons were stored, including Jay's lightsaber. We meet the others at the exit, and when all of us are armed, Bo begins giving orders.

"You need to get Jayce out of here, try to contact Taris and see if we can get some reinforcements here. I'll go find Gideon."

"If you're going after Gideon you'll need help." I argue.

"No, this is something I have to do alone. Besides, if anything happens to me it won't matter, but any hope for the New Republic relies on Jayce surviving, and he can barely walk. Keep him safe, contact the others, and leave Gideon to me."