YES!
I'm just happy we've hit season 4.
There's sooo many things in season 4 that I want to do...it's going to take a while to get it done, but it will be worth it! I think we start with the arc that has GEneral Krell in it...you guys get to see how Zelina fares on her own, without any of her other Jedi peers or any impressionable younger Jedi. Just Zelina, the troopers...and a...would he be a racist? Jedi General...fun times guys...fun times...
Don't forget, AngelDesaray of Fanfiction page has alerts for writers block and new chapters, pictures for the chapters, I'll do sketches of anything someone wants to see, like lightsaber designs, I'll be asking for opinions, posting cover photos at full scale, etc etc.
Anyway!
PLEASE REVIEW!
Enjoy!
Zelina floated in and out of consciousness...
"Come on General, stay with us!"
"Zee! Zee come on, don't quit on me now, keep moving..."
"Leave her, she's slowing us down!"
"Anakin, we have to go now; hand her to me, you and Ahsoka need to cover our escape!"
"I'm not leaving her! Obi-Wan, you cover the flank, I can carry her; Rex, let me, you help Echo..."
"Yes General Skywalker..."
"Stay with me Zelina, you're going to be fine, just stay with me."
"Master Kenobi, what has happened?"
"I'm afraid we've had a situation with the shuttle..."
"By situation, he means big explosion. We're gonna need a rescue."
"It will be done; I'm sending our cruisers now..."
"Wait, wait...I think she's waking up."
"It's about time..."
"Zee...Zee, can you hear me?"
Zelina moaned lightly, her eyelids fluttering but not yet opening. Her back felt like someone had burned off several layers with a lightsaber, and she had a murderous headache. "Ani..."
"That's it Zee, come on, open your eyes—can someone get me some water?"
"We're wasting valuable time we could spend putting distance between us and Sobek's men!"
"I'm sure you would have us leave you back there had it been you Captain? Please, be my guest and switch places with her."
"Ani," Zelina said, a little stronger. She cracked her eyelids open, fixing him with a weak droll stare. "Be polite; it's one of the few redeeming qualities you have...from time to time."
He rolled his eyes while several people snickered. "Oh yeah, she's better now."
Zelina moved to sit up, and Anakin put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Easy now, you don't want to hurt yourself. You've got a nasty burn all the way down your back; you're probably going to need to spend a few days in the Halls of Healing."
Zelina scowled to hide her grimace; she didn't miss the fact that the under tunic she wore was not her own, and she wasn't wearing anything else that but her friend's under tunic from the waist up. Hopefully it had been Ahsoka that had made the apparent switch and not Anakin, or she was going to die of embarrassment.
"I'd rather hurt a lot while I move then wind up dead cause I didn't move," she replied. She cast her gaze around, blatantly ignoring Tarkin and fixing her eyes on Cruiser. "Captain Cruiser, come here and help me up as General Skywalker insists I stay sitting."
"No Captain, you stay right there," Anakin responded sharply. Zelina smirked lightly.
"That was an order Captain. Sorry Ani, but he is my Captain, under my command," she responded as Cruiser came over and helped her to her feet. Zelina leaned into his shoulder, ignoring the dizzy wave that fell over her and the pain in her back. "What's the status?"
Anakin obviously wasn't happy she was straining herself, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to talk some sense into her either. He sighed. "We're going to have to fight our way to the rendezvous point Master Plo designated for our extraction. We were just about to contact the Council to see when they would rescue us when you woke up."
"Well then, by all means, don't let me keep you," Zelina said with a slight wave of her hand.
"I'll handle it," Master Piell said, turning towards R2. While Piell made the transmission, Zelina shifted her weight so that she wasn't putting all of her weight on Cruiser. Cruiser's helmet shifted so the vizor would face her.
"Are you sure you don't want to rest General?" Cruiser asked worriedly. "You took a nasty hit back there."
"I'm sure Cruiser, don't worry about me; I can rest when we're off this Force-forsaken planet," Zelina muttered.
"That's one way of looking at it," Cruiser said with a note of amusement in his voice. Another trooper was approaching them from off to the side, and Zelina turned to face the soldier in burned, blackened armor as he walked towards her with a slight limp.
"I, ah, just wanted to thank you for what you did back there General. I might not be here if it wasn't for you," Echo said seriously.
"It's what any decent person would have done Echo," Zelina told him gently. Captain Rex was standing right beside him.
"We're all grateful that you saved him ma'am; we're in your debt," Rex said seriously.
"Don't mention it Captain; I'm sure you would do the same for me," Zelina said in an equally serious tone.
Just as the transmission on their right ended, blaster fire suddenly came from their left, and Zelina's hand dropped to her lightsaber, coming up to block a few blaster bolts with her violet blade before they could strike her or Cruiser.
"I think we're been found guys," she said, nudging Cruiser to signal that she wanted to move back towards the group.
"Back, back, back!" Rex ordered, causing them all to rush towards the main group as Rex activated and tossed a thermal detonator towards the assassin droids that had appeared. Rock fell from the ceiling while Echo helped Rex to his feet, and the blaster fire finally ceased.
"No doubt there's more on the way," Obi-Wan said grimly, and they all turned to move forward. Echo came behind them, offering his own help for Zelina as they pushed forward, Zelina focusing on moving at a decent pace the entire time that wouldn't put any of them behind.
Zelina had to admit, running while being supported by two people wasn't ideal, but it was better than being carried on someone's back the entire time. The Citadel forces were catching up with them, and they had to keep moving though. Even now, they were approaching a cliff that wasn't making Zelina feel that optimistic. Anakin and Obi-Wan peered over the edge with identical frowns, but Rex, Zelina, Piell, and everyone else's attention was focused on the spider droid that had just rounded the corner and the battle droids that were approaching from the behind.
"They're boxing us in!" Ahsoka exclaimed.
"Lock in your cables," Anakin commanded, firing his into the ground and gesturing for Cruiser to hand Zelina over to him. Zelina complied willingly, wrapping her arms around Anakin's shoulders and neck. This wasn't a trip she could do alone in her current state, she needed to hold onto someone else. "R2, we need your droids to hold off the enemy for as long as possible."
R2 whirred in confirmation, and Anakin nodded. "Good. Everyone, follow me!" Anakin called turning back to the ledge. Not for the first time in her life, Zelina was glad she wasn't afraid of heights.
"This is sheer madness!" Tarkin exclaimed as he hopped onto Obi-Wan's back, holding on for dear life as Obi-Wan and Anakin started scaling down the cliff, holding tightly onto the cables that were holding two people each. Zelina could hear the fierce battle above them as more and more of their forces started making their way down the ledge.
"Keep moving!" Obi-Wan bellowed. They were halfway there, but some of them were behind.
"Well, this is fun," Zelina murmured into Anakin's ear, causing him to chuckle.
"It's not one of my favorite missions, but there have been worse," he replied.
"Touché," she said in amusement.
One of the cables were cut, and two troopers rushed passed Anakin and Zelina in their fall. Zelina stretched out her hand instinctively with the Force, catching them mid-fall and lowering them carefully to the ground with no shortage of concentration.
"I suggest we hurry up on getting to the ground again," Zelina grunted, carefully shifting on Anakin so that she was more secure on his back.
"No, really?" Anakin asked in a clearly mocking voice. Zelina snorted.
"You're still ticked off I'm not resting like you want me to."
"Is it that obvious?"
Zelina rolled her eyes. "Anakin, in this situation, I can't afford to stay still; I have to move with you guys," she said forcefully. "I promise you I will rest when we get back to safety, but until then I'm going to have to push my limits."
R2 whizzed by them, about the same time that they finally reached the ground. Zelina slid off of Anakin's back, though Anakin kept one of her arms around his shoulder, supporting her with his organic arm as they pushed forward, just barely ahead of the blaster bolts the assassin droids were raining down on them from above.
"Keep moving! Keep moving!" Anakin shouted, reluctantly handing Zelina off to Cruiser and Echo again as they passed so that he could stay at the back of the group and cover the escape. Zelina was starting to feel more like the object of a relay race with all this back and forth, but she couldn't quite walk on her own, so she'd have to be satisfied with their current pace.
They approached a hole, and when Zelina saw Piell jump down she grimaced. "I can do this myself Captain, head on down, I'll jump down after you," she commanded.
"General, I don't think that's the best—" Cruiser started, but Zelina cut him off.
"I know my limitations Captain, just do as I ask or we're going to get shot," she said bluntly, already easing herself down onto the ledge before pushing off and dropping to the cavern floor below her with much reliance on the Force. Pain ripped up her back when she landed, and her knees gave out, but she was able to push herself up and stumbled over to the wall, leaning against it for support until Cruiser and Echo came down and she had her support once again.
By the time the underground cavern opened back up into the open, Zelina's condition had worsened, and it was even harder for her to keep moving. Cruiser and Echo managed to help her keep to the front of the group, and collectively they covered a lot of ground, but she still was obviously depending more and more on her two trooper companions to stay upright the longer their journey went on.
Tarkin wasn't helping her mood.
"What if your Jedi friends are not there when we arrive?" Tarkin sneered from somewhere behind her.
"Keep moving, and you won't have to worry about that Tarkin," Piell sneered, eliciting a chuckle from Zelina.
"Nice to see the Captain put back in his place," Zelina muttered. Cruiser snorted, but said nothing in response.
"...feels the Jedi should be...relieved from the burden of leading the war effort," Zelina heard Anakin say up ahead of her as her little trio approached him and Ahsoka.
"That's ridiculous."
"Maybe...but we aren't soldiers, we're peacekeepers. The Jedi Code often prevents us from going far enough to achieve victory."
"But we can't afford to compromise our morals at the same time. The moment we decide to do everything possible just for victory, the moment we chose to give up who we are for the sake of success, is the moment the enemy has truly won," Zelina quipped from behind. "Some people are willing to lose who they are and everything that makes them a good person for the sake of victory, but I think that is worse than losing; losing who we are."
"Either way...he is a good Captain," Anakin said, albeit a little grudgingly. Obviously he had not forgotten the jab at Zelina earlier.
The howls of some kind of creature on the hunt reached their ears, and their group came to a slow hault.
"Did you hear that?" Ahsoka asked needlessly.
"Yes," Piell said grimly. "We're going to have company," Piell said ominously.
"Well that's just smashing," Zelina muttered, leaning a little more into Cruiser. She was trying to put as little weight on Echo as possible, as it was obvious he'd been burned too, though not as much as she had.
This mission just kept getting better and better...
Instead of bearing down, they all chose to keep moving forward, at an even quicker rate to try and outrun their would-be visitors. The chances of that happening was grim, but better than making no progress and waiting for their inevitable arrival.
Once more, Tarkin and Anakin had found themselves side by side in the group, with Zelina limping along behind them.
"You know, it's not wise to argue with Master Piell," Anakin told Tarkin in amusement; he even chuckled. "It's certainly not a good career move."
"General Skywalker, I stand by my principles, no matter what," Tarkin replied.
Wow, a speck of a redeeming quality amongst a pile of pure bantha poodoo, Zelina found herself thinking with a shake of her head. Tarkin continued.
"Besides, I needn't worry about my career; I've fallen into favor with the Chancellor. He shall support me."
That's an achievement?
"Oh? I happen to know the Chancellor quite well myself," Anakin replied smoothly.
Unfortunately.
"Oh, really?" Tarkin said, sounding like he didn't quite believe him.
Anakin paused at the unvoiced challenge, turning to face Tarkin fully. "Really."
"Let's keep moving; if we're not at the rendezvous point at the exact time, we'll miss our window," Obi-Wan quipped as he helped Zelina down the rocky ledge they had reached. Tarkin and Anakin finally hushed up, and they continued on with Obi-Wan offering to support Zelina to give Cruiser and Echo a well-deserved break. Zelina leaned on Obi-Wan's shoulder, sighing.
"I can't wait till we're rid of him. I don't like him at all," Zelina muttered softly to him.
"I'm sure the feeling's mutual for most of the people here," Obi-Wan replied.
"It's a miracle some people like him," Zelina added. Obi-Wan chuckled, but the sound was cut short when the sound of the creatures that were hunting them echoed around them once more, except louder this time.
"Those creatures are gaining," Rex informed them.
"If they've caught out scent, they'll lead the droids right to us," Piell told Obi-Wan.
"We're going to have to deal with them," Anakin noted.
"Oh joy," Zelina quipped, grimacing slightly. She was ready to sit down again, but she wasn't about to say that out loud.
"What about using this cave to surprise them?" Ahsoka asked, gesturing towards the cave opening on their right.
"If we can get them to pass by, we can attack them from behind; but we need a distraction," Piell observed.
"Leave that to me," Anakin said, determination and confidence ripe in his voice.
"Eh-hem," Obi-Wan said, coughing pointedly and cocking an eyebrow at Anakin.
"And Obi-Wan, of course," Anakin added as a side thought.
"Nice to know you remember him Anakin," Zelina said sarcastically.
Anakin rolled his eyes. "You will be staying hidden while the rest of us do the heavy lifting."
"Oh joy, I just love being left out of the action," Zelina said sarcastically.
"The rest of you," Master Piell said pointedly, redirecting the course of conversation, "follow me."
Zelina sighed. "Here we go; fun, fun. You two can just set me down once we get inside, give you two a break and allow both of you to join the fun. Just don't tell Anakin, he'll never shut up that he was right."
Echo snickered. "Of course General. Do you want one of us to stay behind though?"
Zelina was about to say no, and then thought better about it. "Oh, just to be safe. Cruiser?"
"Yes ma'am," Cruiser said immediately.
"All right, let's go."
Zelina got a decent amount of rest, but even then it wasn't much. The creatures that had been tracking them rushed by after Anakin, Obi-Wan, and R2, who were acting as the diversion, and Cruiser helped Zelina to her feet so that they could keep up with the others, who were rushing forward.
"It's getting harder and harder to keep up with these guys," Zelina grunted as they pushed forward. Cruiser glanced at her.
"You don't have to keep walking General," Cruiser started, but Zelina cut him off before he could get much further with the offer.
"It's fine Captain, we'll make better progress if we walk together than if you carried me," Zelina said. "Besides, we're...almost there, I think."
Their conversation was abruptly cut short as just ahead of them two spider droids suddenly appeared from over the ledge on their left, and opened fire. Zelina's blade snapped to life and she managed to deflect the blaster bolts that headed their way while the two troopers that had been in front of them were felled by the droids. The droids turned their attention to Zelina and Cruiser, causing Zelina to grimace.
"Well, this is pleasant," Zelina quipped, untangling herself from Cruiser to weave on two feet and allow the Captain to focus on raining fire down on the advancing droids. Zelina ignited her other lightsaber, working overtime to deflect the bolts as they advanced, ignoring the pain in her back.
Master Piell and Ahsoka appeared out of nowhere, each of them jumping onto a droid before one of them could reach Zelina or Cruiser. Zelina weaved, and Cruiser caught her before she could lose her balance and fall to the floor.
"I got you General," he grunted.
"Thanks Cruiser," Zelina said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leaning on him again. Echo appeared on her other side, and collectively they all rushed towards the main group.
"Keep going; Ahsoka and I will take care of the droids," Piell called as more spider droids approached.
"For once, I don't think I'm going to argue," Zelina muttered, and their group raced to catch up with Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Of course, by the time they arrived, all that was left was the droids that were zipping around in the air. The creatures had been taken down, but they didn't really get the chance for air coverage. Cruiser and Echo sat Zelina down and took up defensive positions on either side of her while she activated her lightsaber to divert any stray blaster fire from herself and the two soldiers.
One of the creatures suddenly appeared from around the corner, tackling Cruiser to the ground.
"Cruiser!" Zelina shouted, pushing herself to her feet while the man struggled with the creature in an effort to keep it from biting into his neck. Zelina threw herself at the pair—lightsaber activated—and managed to impale the creature through the throat. Zelina deactivated her lightsaber with a groan, rolling off of Cruiser with a little effort on her part.
"Thanks General," Cruiser said shakily while Echo helped the two of them up.
"Don't mention it," Zelina muttered while they helped her up. "Come on, we have to keep moving."
"Yes ma'am," Echo said as they pushed in the direction of Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were finishing off the Citadel forces.
Halfway there, Zelina suddenly gasped, grasping both troopers for support as she suddenly felt as if someone had been plucked from the galaxy. Ignoring the inquiries from the two at her side, she plunged deeper into the Force, probing to see what the source of the disturbance was. Her blood chilled when she finally realized just who had disappeared.
"Oh no..." Obi-Wan said a few feet away from her.
"Master Piell," Zelina confirmed.
A few moments later, Ahsoka appeared from out of the mist, Master Piell's body slung over her shoulder as she moved forward to meet Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were rushing her way. Zelina, Echo, and Cruiser came forward at their own pace, and reached the group just as Anakin helped Ahsoka lay the diminutive Jedi Master on the ground.
"He died...honorably," Ahsoka said softly. Anakin closed his eyes, took a breath, and turned his attention to Ahsoka.
"What about the information?" he asked seriously.
"I have it," Ahsoka said firmly. "He told me just before he died."
It didn't take long for them to wrap up Master Piell's body, and they all stood collectively at a cliff ledge, ready to send Piell's body off into the sulfuric, yellow, magma river. Obi-Wan stood on the right, Anakin on the left, and Zelina was in the center, supported by Echo.
"We don't have much time," Obi-Wan said quietly. "Let's take this moment to honor him; then we must move on...He would have wanted us to complete our mission."
Anakin raised his hand, then Zelina, then Obi-Wan, and collectively they rose Master Piell's wrapped body into the air and slowly lowered him into the river below. They stood together, watching the body disappear down the magma waterfall long after it had disappeared before they finally managed to collect themselves and continue on.
At long last, they reached the rendezvous point—well, partially. They still had to get over the magma to the island itself.
"There's the extraction point," Obi-Wan said, gesturing towards the island. Zelina frowned.
"Any idea how the cripple's going to get over there?" she quipped, cocking an eyebrow challengingly.
"Well...we'll figure it out," Anakin replied as he and Cody both set cables to provide a way from one side to the island. Zelina grimaced.
"I don't know...I'll try wiggling along if someone's willing to stand by and catch me if I fall."
Anakin grimaced as well while Rex and Tarkin rushed forwards and started inching along the cable. "Please, don't give me that mental image."
They reached the other end, and everything suddenly got so much more complicated.
"Incoming!" Rex called, and everyone tensed in anticipation.
"Echo, Cruiser, get me over there, we need to get across before someone gets the idea to shoot out the cables," Zelina commanded.
"Yes ma'am," Cruiser said, and they collectively rushed forward to cross the cable before too much could go wrong. Anakin and Obi-Wan stood tense on the other side, watching carefully as Ahsoka and Zelina took up positions to inch along the cable just in case one of them fell. Zelina did her best to ignore not just the droids zipping around above them, but also the pain in her back and the intense heat of the magma as she focused all of her energy on pushing forward. She grit her teeth, putting her mind somewhere—anywhere—other than where she currently was. She cast her mind back to the day she was knighted when she'd sat with Anakin in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. She thought of giving him her Padawan Braid and wondered where he kept it and she thought of the one armed hug they'd shared after, sitting comfortably together in one of the rare moments of piece they'd been blessed with—
A droid buzzed so close to her cable Zelina nearly slipped, and she felt a spike of fear come off of Anakin, causing her to send waves of reassurance his way as she continued forward, trying to get a grip on a happy place again. Since the droids were firing by now, it was hard to focus.
Anakin's presence brushed against her conscious, and Zelina accepted it instantly, allowing Anakin to send soothing waves of assurance and confidence over her. Zelina latched onto his presence, wrapping it around her in a sort of protective blanket that gave her the strength to power through the last few meters to the island, gratefully accepting Rex and Ahsoka's help as they reached out to pull her onto solid ground. Zelina cast her gaze back towards Anakin amid the chaos and gave him a smile and a nod of gratitude.
In the next moment they were right back in the thick of battle, moving for whatever cover they could muster, standing back to back for protection, firing back and deflecting blaster bolts into the droids around them...
Back on the other side, Obi-Wan and Anakin both managed to commandeer two of the droids' vehicles and started wreaking havoc on the forces in the air, taking them all out once by one. Zelina noticed that Sobek, the being in charge of the Citadel, was on one of those vehicles. She hoped someone would shoot him down.
No sooner had that thought crossed her mind did R2 suddenly create a smokescreen for them while he made his way to the island, successfully blinding Sobek and allowing Rex to take the shot to bring Sobek crashing down to the island. Sobek pushed himself to his feet like a cornered animal, complete with snarling sounds, while Tarkin approached with his blaster aimed and ready to fire. Tarkin took the shot, but Sobek dodged it and was right in Tarkin's face the next moment, punching the Captain right in the face and picking him up by the throat. Sobek slammed him into the ground before he lifted him high into the air, and a flicker of panic rushed through Zelina. As much as she disliked Tarkin, they couldn't afford to have him die—especially without the information he carried being passed on.
"If I can't have the information," Sobek snarled, "it will die with y—"
Sobek suddenly cut off, dropping Tarkin before he could heft the Captain into the air and clutching at his throat in wide eyed surprise. Clutching her fingers a little closer together, Zelina raised Sobek into the air and then pushed out with her arm, sending the Citadel overseer flying into the magma just outside the ocean. Obi-Wan and Anakin, who had just arrived on the scene, stared at her in surprise as she took several steadying breaths, flushing out the panic she'd felt just moments before.
"Down boy," she muttered, her hands falling to the lightsabers at her waist before she weaved backwards right into Anakin's arms.
"Are you all right?" he asked her, openly concerned for her well-being.
"A...a little cold but...I'll be fine," she said weakly, allowing Anakin to sling her arm over his shoulder as he held her upright.
Tarkin eyed her wearily. "My thanks General Du'ahn," he said in a slightly breathless voice. He didn't say anything more though, and brushed past them in the next moment.
"Are we going back to Coruscant yet?" Zelina muttered tiredly. "Because I'm just about spent..."
"The rescue ship should be here by now," Obi-wan answered.
"So should the rest of the Separatist Army," Anakin griped.
Almost to disprove their skepticism, a gunship suddenly emerged from the steam all around.
"It's about time!" Zelina exclaimed at the welcome sight of their way out of there.
The doors slid open to reveal Master Plo Koon as it came to hover just above the surface of the island. "I believe you've worn out your welcome," he called, eliciting a small smile out of Zelina. They collectively rushed forward, with Tarkin jumping aboard first before Anakin, Cruiser, and Echo all passed Zelina up to them.
"She's got a nasty burn and she'll need treatment as soon as it's available," Anakin called while Zelina was situated securely in corner inside the gunship, leaning her side against the wall and letting her eyes flutter closed in relief. Her body had been screaming at her to stop straining herself, but the situation had demanded otherwise. Now...now she could finally rest...
Anakin boarded the ship last, but he kneeled down right in front of her as the ship took off. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked softly, placing a hand on her knee.
"I'm exhausted, I'm in pain...and I'm still cold..." Zelina muttered, "but I'll be okay once I get some rest in."
"Is that all?" Anakin pressed. They both knew what was currently the dominating thought on her mind.
"I killed him Ani," Zelina whispered for only Anakin to hear. "It wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't for the fact of how I killed him. I...I used a dark side power and killed him needlessly; I could have taken him prisoner."
"He would have thrown himself into the magma rather than be taken prisoner," Anakin told her gently. That didn't change how she felt about it though, so he switched tactics. "It's in the past now though, there's nothing you can do about it. You had a moment of weakness, yes, but that doesn't make you a bad person. The best you can do is pick yourself back up—after you've gotten you rest—brush yourself off, and put it behind you. Things happen, especially in war."
Zelina nodded slightly. "Thank you Ani..."
"If it helps, I won't say anything about what happened down there," Anakin added. "Just...get some rest Zee; we're safe now."
Zelina sighed, slouching against the wall and letting herself drift off to some much needed—and well deserved—sleep.
