Of Love and War Book 3: In The Thick of Battle

Chapter 42: Season 5 (Ahsoka)

Zelina shrugged. "Well, I figured it would help more to have some political finesse on my side. Anakin definitely doesn't have it, and considering how often the two of us are put on missions it would probably be wise for me to try and gain a political side."

"Well, there's always Obi-Wan to help you out of your negotiation issues," Satine said with a smile. Zelina laughed.

"Playing off his Clone Wars nickname, are you?" she mused. "How are you two doing, by the way? I know he's about to leave for Mandalore again..."

Satine gave her a curious look. "We're still friends...just as we always have been. Why, are you insinuating something?"

Zelina blushed slightly. "No! Not at all, I was just...curious to know what's been going on since everything happened."

Satine smiled, coming to a stop. "I have a feeling it's more than that."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I just..."

Zelina trailed off, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Over Satine's shoulder, Luke appeared, racing towards them. Zelina's sense of danger spiked, and she saw several Jedi stiffen as well.

"Get down!" Luke hollered at her, and Zelina snapped into action, grabbing a startled Satine by the shoulders and tossing the two of them to the ground.

"Move!" she shouted, her words punctuated by a sudden shockwave and fiery explosion.

Zelina felt Luke lying on top of her, hastily throwing up a protective sheild around her and Satine that was strengthened by Luke's presence. It kept them from a fiery, charred death, but there was still shrapnel, the shockwave, and fire all together, and she couldn't deflect everything so spontaneously.

Then there was the startling, sudden feeling of death all around her, and the pain registered in her mind.

Zelina gasped, her ears ringing so she could hardly hear anything, though she registered Satine moving underneath her.

"Zelina...are you all right?" Satine asked through a fit of coughing. The smoke was gathering in the hangar, making it hard to breathe. Zelina hardly heard her, but she heard.

"I don't...I don't know," Zelina muttered, trying to push off of Satine but finding herself stuck in place. "Satine...I don't know if this is me, but...I can't get up."

Satine's arm pushed upward, and Zelina heard a dull thump and a hiss as her hearing improved slightly. "No, it's not you, something has us pinned."

Zelina sighed, closing her eyes. "Give me a second...let me...get my bearings..."

Satine was silent while Zelina focused, muscling through the pain, suffering, and death all around her so she could get a good grip on what had them pinned. It was decently large, and the more awareness Zelina regained the more she realized it burned.

"Force!" Zelina groaned in pain as she pushed on whatever had them pinned with the Force, slowly lifting it before tossing it aside. She sat up to give Satine more room, looking around in horror to see people in similar situations—terribly burned, trapped by shrapnel, dead, or even impaled in random places from the shrapnel. Fires were all over the hanger, filling it with black cloying smoke that made the situation dire still.

Staggering to her feet, Zelina offered Satine a hand. "Come on...let's get you out of here," Zelina murmured.

"You're injured," Satine noted, taking in several injuries Zelina either wasn't aware of yet or was only faintly aware of at the moment.

Zelina shook her head, taking the woman's hand. "Not important right now. You get out of here and head for the med bay, I'm going to help get these other people out as well."