SERGEANT MELSHI looked up at the sky to see the rebel ships dogfighting with their Imperial foes overhead. He felt grateful for the assistance, but he knew that such a fight meant the Empire would have closed the shield around the planet. He hoped the larger rebel ships that had brought the fighters could manage to punch a hole through that shield soon, or he and his troops would be stuck on Scarif for the entirety of their terribly shortened lives.

Meanwhile, Melshi had more pressing matters demanding his attention on the planet’s surface. Blue Squadron had been a huge help with the AT-ACTs, but there were TIE strikers, with their sharp, streamlined wings, inside the shield, too, harassing the rebel pilots every step of the way.

Through the raucous noise of the battle, Melshi heard Corporal Tonc trying to raise him over the comms. “Melshi! Listen up! Bodhi will send the signal from here—he’s patching us in—but you guys have to open up the line to the tower.”

Melshi understood at least part of that. Bodhi wanted to get a message to the rebel fleet but couldn’t get the signal through the shield on his own. They needed to help him. “How?” Melshi said. “Please advise.”

“There’s a master switch at every hub,” Tonc said. “Find the hub!”

Melshi scanned the nearest hub, which wasn’t all that far away, but he didn’t see what Tonc was talking about. He was a soldier, not a communication tech. “Master switch? Describe. What are we looking for?”

Melshi heard Tonc yell at someone else inside the cargo shuttle. “What does it look like?” he said. “The master switch! Where is it?”

Tonc relayed the description back from the Imperial defector, Bodhi. Melshi frowned at every word. It would be hard enough to get to a landing pad, much less to find a switch and activate it.

He hoped the effort would be worth it. From the way the battle raging above them seemed to be going, they didn’t have much time left.