"Impossible." Ashel made a cautious gesture toward the ruined droids. "We cannot communicate except through the droids, and you have destroyed them all.

"

"Really," Tories said. It was almost certainly a lie, but there was an easy way to call the other's bluff. "Fine. Come on."

"Where do we go?" Gehad asked timorously.

"It just so happens I know where there are other droids you can use,"

Tories told him. "And watch it. I doubt you want the kind of trouble I can make for you."

Keeping a grip on Ashel's robe, he led the way down the platform steps.

The Neimoidians' sealing of the tunnel exit had been achieved by the simple procedure of welding the leading edge of the ramp solidly to the floor, and it took him only a couple of seconds to cut through the weld with his lightsaber.

Ashel quivered in his grip as he did so, but said nothing.

Their footsteps echoed eerily as they headed east through the empty plant. Tories kept alert for a surprise attack, but apparently the Neimoidians really had sent all the rest of the droids outside.

The battle was still going on as they reached the east door and stepped out into the night air. "There are your droids," Tories said, giving Ashel an imperative push toward the light and noise. "Let's go talk to them."

"You cannot be serious," the Neimoidian protested, cringing back against Tories' grip. "We are not equipped for battle."

"Too bad," Tories said. "But if that's the only way to stop them..."

He broke off as, abruptly, the circle of blasters around Roshton's position fell silent. Something in the sky to the left caught his eye, and he looked over as a pair of STAPs plummeted to the ground.

He craned his head to look up into the night sky. There, almost directly above him, was the fading light of an expanding gas cloud.

General Tiis and the Whipsaw had come through.