The two Jedi ran through the corridors of the hangar. Sarali followed them only until she saw Dooku's speeder, at which point she quickly hid behind a nearby pillar to stay out of the fight as Obi-Wan had instructed her.
The Master and Apprentice continued on. From here, she could hear them. "You're gonna pay for all the Jedi you killed today, Dooku," Anakin said, always the confident, young man. Sometimes, Sarali wished he would be less cocky. Perhaps then he wouldn't get into such dangerous situations all the time.
"We'll take him together. You go in slowly on the left," Obi-Wan said lowly, forming a plan to defeat their more powerful rival.
"No! I'm taking him now!" Anakin snarled, running at Dooku without a thought for strategy. Sarali squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head against the pillar, hoping that her adopted brother would not be harmed in this foolish manoeuvre.
"No, Anakin! No!" Obi-Wan yelled after his apprentice, sharing the hope of Sarali.
The sound of an electrical discharge shot through the hangar followed by the heavy sound of a body hitting the floor. That had to have hurt.
Sarali continued to listen, resisting the urge to run to the defence of her brother. She could hear two steps of footsteps, both slow as though they were circling each other, measuring each other up before a fight.
"As you see, my Jedi powers are far beyond yours," Dooku said matter-of-factly. "Now, back down."
The sound of another electrical discharge sounded. This one sounded different, almost like the joining of a power coupling. Obi-Wan must have blocked it with his lightsabre.
"I don't think so, Dooku," Obi-Wan said.
Seconds later, a lightsabre ignited. Sarali drew in a shaky breath to calm herself. They were going to duel. Obi-Wan was very skilled with a lightsabre. He would make it through this. He had to.
And then it began. Sarali could hear the sounds of lightsabre meeting lightsabre.
In a few seconds, they disengaged, allowing Dooku to begin his taunts. "Master Kenobi, you disappoint me. Yoda holds you in such high esteem."
Sarali heard the sound of their lightsabres again, though this time only briefly. Dooku had paused again to further taunt Obi-Wan "Surely, you can do better."
They continued to fight until Sarali heard Obi-Wan cry out twice in pain. Dooku had hurt him!
Before she could react, Sarali heard Anakin cry out before lightsabres clashed again. She could only hope that Anakin had saved his master.
"Brave of you, Boy. But foolish," Dooku taunted. "I would have thought you had learned your lesson."
"I am a slow learner," Anakin returned. He was all right! He had probably only been stunned before.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan yelled before another lightsabre was ignited. Was Anakin fighting with two lightsabres now? Would that help? Or would Dooku win?
The sounds of more fighting wafted over to Sarali as she dug her claws into the pillar to relieve some of the tension she felt at being so useless.
All of a sudden, the lights flickered and went out in the hangar! Had they damaged the power line? Or a maintenance box? Now, Sarali could sneak closer without any of the Jedi seeing her. As a partial-feline, her eyesight in the dark was far better than theirs.
Sarali watched, entranced by the two lightsabres. The red and blue seemed to dance with each other, belying the deadly severity of this duel. Quite suddenly, Dooku moved in and sliced off one of Anakin's arms at the elbow before force pushing him back to fall beside his master on the floor. Sarali could not hold back her squeak of horror.
Dooku whirled around, spotting her effortless in the glow of his red lightsabre. "Ah! So you've come, too, my dear!"
Sarali was nearly vibrating in anger. He had hurt the two men she cared about! She quickly activated the lightsabre clutched in her hand.
Dooku looked from her to the lightsabre in her hand and asked, "Are you sure you want to do that, my dear? You are, after all, untrained."
Sarali bared her teeth at the man and hissed as she leapt at him. Despite being a natural at combat, she could not last long against so well-trained an opponent. She was disarmed within a minute.
Dooku disengaged his lightsabre and walked closer to her, reaching out a hand to take hers. "Come with me, my dear. These two will not help you anymore," he offered.
As soon as he was within reach, Sarali jumped at him again, this time with bared claws aimed for his face. She raked her claws down his face, leaving long gouges that would never fully heal. Dooku cried out in pain and anger, clutching at his face with one hand. The other hand moved out as if to choke her.
Sarali felt something begin to lift her up by her neck then, choking her. She could not reach him to make him stop! How could she defend against this?
It did not take long for Sarali to fall unconscious. When her head bobbed to the side and her eyes closed, Dooku released her, letting her fall unceremoniously to land on the ramp of the only ship in the hangar. It was clear then to Obi-Wan that Dooku did not mean to kill Sarali. He needed her for something. Or someone.
As Dooku began loading Sarali into the ship, he heard approaching footsteps. Dropping her just inside the door to the ship, Dooku turned to see Yoda hobbling toward him. "Master Yoda," Dooku acknowledged.
"Count Dooku," Yoda returned.
"You have interfered with our affairs for the last time," Dooku said menacingly before raising a hand to use the force, pulling a piece of machinery from the wall and launching it at Yoda.
Yoda dropped his cane and raised one of his three-fingered hands to stop the machinery in the air and throw it to the side. Dooku tried this approach twice more with the same result.
"Powerful you have become, Dooku. The Dark Side I sense in you," Yoda said after releasing the chunks of ceiling Dooku had forced down toward him.
"I've become more powerful than any Jedi, even you," Dooku said as he lifted a hand to throw force lightning at Yoda.
Yoda caught the lightning with a ball of force energy in his hand, forcing it back toward Dooku, who deflected it with his hand. "Much to learn you still have," Yoda said as Dooku's second strategy failed like his first.
"It is obvious that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with a lightsabre," Dooku said, drawing his lightsabre again and activating it.
After allowing Yoda to draw his own lightsabre, the two dueled. Both were very skilled. This duel was not over so quickly as the others had been.
As the two fought, Obi-Wan quietly struggled to sit up. Once he had spotted her on Dooku's transport, he tiredly used the force to levitate her from the ship, dropping her just off the ramp because he no longer had the strength to lift her.
"Fought well you have, my old Padawan," Yoda said after some time.
"This is just the beginning," Dooku said, pressing his lightsabre to Yoda's with one hand while raising the other to use the force and bring a large, heavy piece of machinery crashing down toward Obi-Wan and Anakin. Yoda dropped his lightsabre to save the two Jedis' lives.
Dooku used this opportunity to run to his ship. As he did, he spotted Sarali outside and knew he could not take the time to get her back on the ship. He would have to leave her behind. His master would be most disappointed in him.
As Dooku's ship left the hangar, Yoda gave Obi-Wan a knowing look. Obi-Wan cared about Sarali. But Dooku also had an interest in her. Only time would tell what sort of interest that was.