Chapter Twenty-Nine
Before she knew it, her nexu friend was dead and she was destroying droids with the lightsabre of a fallen Jedi, displaying more natural talent than was entirely common perhaps from her training with long knives.
Sarali was surprised by the amount of resources poured into this rescue operation when the next set of reinforcements arrived. Ships Sarali recognized from Kamino flew into the arena and landed, spewing out clones armed to the teeth. She sprinted toward one of the ships only to find Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme already on board. Obi-Wan easily noticed her from amongst the chaos and offered her a hand, pulling her up onto the ship. He held her gaze for a couple seconds with relief clear in his eyes before he turned to the pilot and nodded, presumably for them to take off. As a couple clones hopped on board, Obi-Wan gestured to the lightsabre she held and asked, "Where did you get that?"
"One of your fallen friends...I had no other weapon, and the droid blasters are built into them," she explained, attempting to grasp the overhead ring as she did.
The Jedi sighed and said in acceptance, "Keep it, for now." As he spoke, he grasped the overhead handle with one hand and held onto her waist with the other. She nodded and wrapped her arms around him, feeling very much like a child holding onto a parent.
Their ship went with the rest to attack Dooku's base of operations for droid production. They quickly toppled two towers stopping a Trade Federation star ship from taking off. Just as they ran out of ammunition, they spotted a speeder leaving the area.
"It's Dooku! Shoot him down!" Anakin commanded.
"We're out of rockets, Sir," the pilot replied.
"Follow him!" Anakin demanded.
"We're gonna need some help!" Padme protested.
"There isn't time!" Obi-Wan responded. "Anakin and I can handle this."
Sarali glanced up at him sharply. He only shook his head and pulled her closer. They did not know how good of an idea that was. Dooku's drones doubled back behind them and started shooting at them. When they found their target, the ship jolted, sending both Padme and a clone to the sands below. Sarali would have fallen if Obi-Wan had not pulled her closer.
"Padme!" Anakin called. "Put the ship down!"
"Anakin! Don't let your personal feelings get in the way!" Obi-Wan reminded him.
Anakin looked down at Sarali, who still clutched Obi-Wan for lack of any good handle she could reach. He raised his eyebrows pointedly, but Obi-Wan shook his head dismissively and commanded the pilot, "Follow that speeder!"
"Lower the ship!" Anakin protested.
"I can't take Dooku alone! I need you! If we catch him, we can end this war right now! We have a job to do!"
"I don't care! Put the ship down!"
"Anakin, think what Padme would do in your position," Sarali reminded him.
Anakin sighed in anger and said, "She would do her duty."
As the ship swooped in to drop them off where Dooku had stopped, Obi-Wan looked down at Sarali and said, "Do not fight unless you must. He has some plan for you. Hide."
She nodded before turning to look at the door. Obi-Wan released her just before the trio jumped from the ship to the platform and ran into the hangar. They were lucky. The ship was destroyed seconds later by Dooku's drones.