For the thousandth time since she'd donned the armor, Zelina flexed in the Zygerrian Slavers garb she was disguised in. It was the last thing she wanted to be wearing, but it was much better than posing as a slave; she didn't think she could bear to be in that role again, even if she was just undercover and faking it.

"It looks like Zygerria is a popular place these days," Anakin said as they approached the planet. Zelina shifted the color of her armor.

"Hm...whatever is happening is attracting plenty of high class...scum," Obi-Wan quipped folding his arms over his chest. Zelina glanced at Ahsoka, who was still in her normal Jedi garb.

"You might want to change now," she told the younger girl. Ahsoka blanched.

"I'd rather not wear that as long as possible," she said, a distasteful look on her face. Zelina chuckled.

"Well...you might be wearing it for a while, so I just thought you'd like the chance to get used to it," Zelina said with a shrug.

"We won't be here long," Anakin corrected her, shooting Zelina a look that clearly showed that he didn't intend for any of them to be stuck among the slaves and slavers longer than they needed to be. As soon as they could leave, they were going to be out of their wretched disguises and homebound once again.

Zelina, personally, hoped that would be sooner rather than later.

******************************************************

The ship around them hummed as it gradually powered down, the small group of five pulling on gloves or helmets—whatever was currently missing from their disguises—before stepping outside of the ship and onto the planet.

"Let's just hope the information our spies gave us about the Queen is accurate," Anakin murmured, pulling on his left hand glove while Zelina situated her helmet for the thousandth time. "Remember, I'll keep her occupied while you locate the missing people of Kiros," Anakin told them all. Obi-Wan looked as if he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"How do you plan on keeping the queen...occupied?" Obi-Wan asked in amusement. Zelina sighed.

"You just had to ask, didn't you Obi-Wan?" she said with a small shake of her head, glancing at Ahsoka as the girl joined them.

Anakin chuckled. "Well...with my magnetic charm, of course."

"Of course," Zelina echoed with a smirk.

"Hold onto this, will you buddy?" Anakin said suddenly, coming to a stop and tossing his lightsaber towards R2, who was stationed by the ramp of the ship. R2 caught the weapon, tucking it away before catching Obi-Wan's, and then Zelina's two lightsabers. R2 whistled happily, rolling even with Anakin as the back of the ship opened up and the ramp lowered to the ground below. Zelina resisted the urge to shield her eyes from the suddenness of the sun blazing in her eyes.

"Remind me why I'm the one playing the part of the slave?" Ahsoka piped up, placing herself in front of Anakin and glaring at him through the slit that allowed her to see in the head to toe cloth she was cloaked in.

"I tried it once, I wasn't very good at it," Anakin replied, a note of acidity coloring his tone. The acidic, forced manner was gone almost immediately, replaced by his usually confident, devil-may-care charm. "Besides; the role of master comes easily to me."

"Really? Well this time try to be convincing at it," Ahsoka responded bitingly.

"Come on; the sooner we get this over with the better," Zelina quipped. "And Ahsoka, try not to be so snippy; it doesn't fit your cover."

Anakin snickered and Ashoka scowled, but Zelina ignored them both, leading the way towards the giant gates of the Zygerrian city in front of them. Zelina did her best to keep her expression smooth and impassive as they walked down the main street, slaves on sale lining both sides with buyers examining them like cattle. She stayed beside Anakin and easily matched his gaze, sidestepping two monkey-lizards trying to kill each other with knives as if it was something she saw every day.

"Uhg," Ahsoka said in disgust behind Zelina and Anakin. "How can a civilization this advanced still practice slavery?" she asked.

"Do you want to get that one? She is your Padawan," Zelina told Anakin. She sincerely hoped he missed the fact that she had purposely arranged her words to avoid using the term master.

"It makes them wealthy and powerful at the expense of others. Before the Hutts bought my mother, she was sold in a market just like this," Anakin growled in a low voice.

Perhaps it hadn't been best to give Anakin that question; Zelina probably should have just sucked it up and dealt with it. Still, she was still trying to shake the fact she had been sold in a Zygerrian slave market. If she'd been able to remember that far back, she could figure out if she had been on this very same Zygerrian world...maybe she was walking the very same street and just didn't have enough memory that far back to realize it.

Zelina's grim musings were cut short, and unfortunately it wasn't by anything pleasant. In front of them, a group of slaves was being shepherded across the road, and as they watched one of the men fell to the ground, too weak to get up. The Zygerrian slaver pushed through his slaves to approach the fallen man, and the undercover group came to a grinding halt a few paces away.

"Get up, you useless skug," they Zygerrian snarled.

"Master...the bonds...they are too heavy," the twi'lek slave whimpered, barely raising his face from the ground on trembling arms.

The Zygerrian raised a fist and growled. "Tell that to my whip!"

Zelina noticeably tensed, her hands clenching into fists at her side as the muscles in her faintly scarred back flexed and went taunt at the memory of the sharp tip of a whip slicing effortlessly through flesh. Of course, the whip they Zygerrian activated was different from the one Shal'ma had used back when Zelina had been a slave; this whip was a shock whip that would deliver electrical pulses. Zelina could feel Anakin and Obi-Wan immediately focus on Zelina due to her reaction, but no words of concern or comfort could be uttered before they were all reminded of the job they had to do...

...and that there was a highly opinionated youth with them that didn't always think before she acted.

Before the Zygerrian's whip could descend on the slave, Ahsoka grabbed the Zygerrian's wrist in a firm grip, keeping him from harming the weakened man.

"You don't want to do that," Ahsoka growled.

The Zygerrian yanked his wrist free from Ahsoka's grasp and deactivated his shock whip, glaring murderously at the girl. "You dare touch me?" he shouted.

"Excuse my slave," Anakin said, stepping forward and pushing Ahsoka back at the same time. Behind her, Zelina felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. Zelina turned around as Anakin spoke with the slaver to see Obi-Wan peering at her in concern from under the Zygerrian helmet he wore.

"Are you all right?" Obi-Wan asked softly, ignoring Rex's curious gaze as he pulled Zelina aside. Zelina sighed, staring into the nearest shadowy corner; she didn't have the energy to lie or try to pretend like she would be fine.

"It's hard...being back in this kind of environment..." Zelina murmured, ignoring Anakin as he continued to speak with the Zygerrian. Obi-Wan's hand dropped to Zelina's arm.

"I know it is, but we must find the colonists so that they do not suffer this fate," Obi-Wan said sternly. She knew it was his way of steering her mind away from what was bothering her and back on track, but she still wished it would have been just a little more comforting.

It was Obi-Wan's turn to sigh as she didn't offer him an answer. "I know it's hard, but as soon as we're done with this mission we will be far away from this place. Just keep your trust in the Force and remember to let any...contentious feelings go into the Force. It will help."

Zelina shook her head. "I know but...that doesn't necessarily make it any better. Slavery still exists in the galaxy, and we find ourselves unfit to deal with it." Zelina shook her head. "It just feels so wrong to know slavery is still running rampant and do nothing about it...but I understand that we have other things that we are meant to do, and we need to focus on what the Force wants and needs us to do," Zelina told him, her voice growing stronger as she spoke.

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. "I'm glad you see that," he said softly. Zelina smiled weakly.

"I tend to be a little more insightful than Anakin," she joked lightly.

Their attention was drawn back to Anakin in the middle of the street when there was suddenly a spike in tension and Anakin had two blasters pointed at his back. Zelina's hand reflexively twitched towards where her lightsaber was normally stashed, but she forced herself not to grab for the weapon as Anakin was only exuding calm confidence. Sure enough, a small droid that was hovering around the group intervened, and Anakin and Ahsoka were led away, with Anakin looking rather smug.

"I think he's going to see the queen...already," Zelina noted, turning back to Obi-Wan. "I guess that means we get to start searching for the colonists."

"We should try to stay close to the palace just in case something happens," Obi-Wan suggested.

"That would probably be wise," Zelina chuckled. "Knowing Anakin's luck, the secret is bound to get out at some point in some way."

Obi-Wan stifled a laugh of his own and let his hands rest on his hips. "Shall we split up in our search?"

Zelina nodded. "That would probably be best; we'll cover more ground that way. And Obi-Wan...try not to attract any attention? This isn't exactly a place for heroics, or even Jedi-like actions, unfortunately. Don't do anything unless you're absolutely sure that it's the moment to act. I don't want any of us getting caught on this mission," Zelina said in a grim voice. Obi-Wan studied her closely for a moment.

"When did you get so old and responsible?" he asked, an eyebrow cocked. Zelina gave him a weary smile.

"Oh...I kept running into this thing called life; I think it's aged me early."

Obi-Wan shook his head and clasped Zelina's shoulder again. "You will always be that same bright eyed six year old I met on Tatooine to me, Zelina Du'ahn."

Zelina blushed, but didn't say anything other than, "Thank you Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan gave her a small smile, and then the pair parted ways. Zelina noticed Rex following Obi-Wan, but she didn't mind. It gave her plenty of time to think in peace while she looked for the colonists. She had plenty to think about anyway. She didn't like being back in the slave community, and if it was possible she felt worse for even posing to be on the other side of the entire cycle. She still needed to figure out just how she felt about it. If she couldn't figure out how she felt, she wouldn't be able to control it, and that could be deadly right now.

Trying to keep her expression smooth and expressionless, Zelina made her way over to the place she was deciding to dub 'the pits' considering the slaves were being kept in individual pits that could be viewed by buyers and slavers from above. Zelina kept her disgust to herself, keeping an eye out for any Togrutas that matched the colonists that they were looking for. Now that she looked, she hardly saw any Togrutas. She saw plenty of Twi'leks, and working in a slum cantina in her early life, she knew all too well what the Twi'leks were most likely being sold into. Zelina resisted the urge to jump in and get as many of them out as possible, instead turning away from the pits she'd been peering into to continue along. She kept her hands clasped behind her back, keeping her eyes peeled for the distinct Togruta characteristics.

She'd only been browsing not even a half an hour when someone grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around so she could see she was facing a snarling Zygerrian slaver.

"Why do you wear Zygerrian armor, girl, if you are not Zygerrian?" the slaver challenged with a sneer, his fingers digging mercilessly into Zelina's shoulder. Zelina didn't care if he was drawing blood, however; she wasn't going to show an ounce of weakness in the face of this Zygerrian. She knew how their customs went, and she was not about to be labeled as weak; the weak were enslaved or killed in the Zygerrian culture.

Zelina fixed a cold expression on her face. "I don't see how that's any of your business, and I suggest you take your hand off of me," She hissed venomously. Anger gathered around the Zygerrian, and she tensed in anticipation.

"I want an answer, or you'll be coming with me," the slaver spat. Zelina's eyes narrowed dangerously, and she drew herself up to her full height.

"For all you know, I killed one of your kind and took the armor; again, I suggest you get your hand off me," Zelina snapped.

"Is that a challenge?" the slaver growled, and a little red flag went off in Zelina's mind. Hadn't she just ridiculed Obi-Wan the other day for taking on a Zygerrian alone a few days ago? Of course, Obi-Wan had meant to be beat to a pulp to stall for time then, but Zelina still stood by her statement that it was not wise to go hand to hand against a Zygerrian alone.

But she'd sort of backed herself into a corner here, so she decided what the heck, she had the Force with her, and it would be considered weaker for her to turn down the challenge than to lose the challenge.

"You bet it is, furball," she snarled. The Force sent a twinge of a warning through Zelina, who dodged the violent shove the Zygerrian had aimed at her followed by a strong, Force-aided jab to the slaver's ribs. She darted away before the slaver could retaliate, using her smaller size and obvious upper hand in agility to her advantage. The slaver lunged at her again but Zelina danced away, bringing her elbow down hard on the back of his head and followed that up with a swift kick as hard as she could in his side. Despite the fact it wasn't very Jedi like of her to do, she kept on the Zygerrian even though he was already down, making sure he would stay down.

She had to make sure that she kept up her façade, and she had to end this fight while she still had the upper hand, before she lost it. The Zygerrian groaned and stayed down after one last blow right to the back of his neck and Zelina stood up, straightening her vest.

"Now...if you'll excuse me, I'm trading up with my wares today and I'd like to take a look at the stock before I invest," Zelina said coldly, turning sharply and leaving the Zygerrian in the dust. A few cautious onlookers of the fight scuttled out of her way as she walked by, and she had to fight back a strong but strange mixture of unease and pride. Apparently whoever she'd just overpowered had been well-known, and she'd automatically been put high on the Zygerrian chain. She fought back an involuntary shiver from her slave comment, wishing she was anywhere but here or that Anakin was here to help her feel better. Grimacing inwardly, Zelina pushed a little further, but had scarcely done so when a booming cry caught her attention.

"You there! What are you doing with that slave?" someone shouted, and Zelina spun in the direction of the cry.

She didn't like what she saw.

On top of some flying reptile creature was Rex, Obi-Wan, and an elderly Togruta that Zelina guessed was one of the colonists, the elder judging by his age and grand head-tails. Zelina felt her heart clench in dread—hadn't she told Obi-Wan no heroics here? Hadn't she warned him to think before he tried anything?

Torn between blending in so she could maintain her cover and rushing to help her long-time friend, Zelina was helpless to do anything but watch as a blaster bolt from one of the slaver pursuers hit true, and Obi-Wan and the Togruta elder were knocked from the flying steed. Rex looked for a moment like he would turn back for them, but it was obvious even to Zelina that he couldn't stop without being captured, so she didn't hold it against him when he didn't go back for the two. Zelina rushed as close as she dared to the scene, standing on the next platform up from where Obi-Wan had fallen and watching as he was taken into custody. Her fists clenched at her sides, and she hated how helpless she felt watching Obi-Wan be cuffed and beat, knowing what would happen to him and knowing she couldn't do anything about it because she was sorely outnumbered and didn't even have her lightsabers. What was worse was when Obi-Wan looked up and saw her standing there, and he just looked so accepting of the position he'd found himself in, like he didn't mind becoming a slave for however long. Of course, Zelina knew that he was confident that the others would find a way to get him out of this mess, but Zelina wasn't so sure that they had a way to free him without blowing their covers.

She'd have to bide her time and wait for an opportunity to rescue him, all the while praying he didn't get sold anytime between now and that said opportunity. First, though, she needed to find Rex...

*****************************************************

"General!"

Zelina did her best not to halt in the middle of her tracks when she heard Rex's hissed words from an alley she'd been approaching. Instead, she walked as casually as she could over to where Rex stood in the shadows. When she was certain no one cared about the two figures hidden among the shadows, she voiced her opinion on the events of earlier.

"What did Obi-Wan think he was doing?" Zelina asked Rex in a low whisper. "I told him no heroics, we have to be careful here!"

Rex grimaced at the sharp edge to her tone. "The chief was very weak; he needed help and General Kenobi wasn't about to leave him in that pit. We would have gotten away with him if he hadn't been shot."

Zelina gave a small groan of exasperation. "I know all of our morals scream at us to help someone in the chief's position, trust me, mine scream that more than normal, but I didn't know what I was saying when I told him heroics are too riskey here. Now we have to find the villagers, rescue the chief, and rescue Obi-Wan. Though we have to find the old fool first," Zelina grumbled, glancing out at the busy street as she spoke.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Rex asked.

Zelina grimaced. "I do, unfortunately. It's not going to be fun or easy, and we might all get captured trying to rescue him," Zelina told Rex quietly. Rex folded his arms over his chest.

"I'm sure I'm going to love this," he mused. Zelina sighed.

"I think they're going to sell him at the Royal Auction; the one that the Queen is supervising today, most likely with all of her guard there as well as the guards of any important person on the planet right now. The one Anakin and Ahsoka should be at as well if things are going right. If we do end up making our move then, we're going to have to be careful to not only blow our covers, but also Anakin and Ahsoka's covers."

Rex gave Zelina a grim smile. "Sounds easy enough. When do we start?"

His clipped cries of pain echoed through the stone room, as did the repetitive crack of the electro-whip. Still, Obi-Wan Kenobi refused to say a single word.

He had plenty running through his mind however. First of all, was the thought, how could anyone do this to a child? With an old whip that slices through skin, nonetheless.

The second thought was also of Zelina; it was of the fact that he refused to give her away, no matter how much pain these slavers put him through.

"Well? Who is he?" came the growl of the supervising Zygerrian as the whipping came to a temporary standstill. Obi-Wan took the opportunity to gather himself, calling on the Force for calm the best that he could.

"He hasn't talked," replied Obi-Wan's torturer. "But I'll loosen his tongue."

The electro-whip crackled back to life and Obi-Wan tensed. Being ready for the shock of the whip didn't make it feel any better when it made contact. Once again, against his will, several cries broke past his resolve as the whip made repetitive contact with his back.

"Why would a slaver try to rescue a slave from the palace? It's suicide," the supervising Zygerrian asked, and not for the first time while he was being whipped, Obi-Wan wished he would have taken Zelina's advice and bided his time for a better opportunity or waited for a more discreet option, arching from the pain he was suffering from the whipping.

"Wait, I know you...from the hologram!" they supervising Zygerrian suddenly said, putting up a hand. He walked up to Obi-Wan and grabbed Obi-Wan's jaw in a relentless grip, pulling Obi-Wan's head back at a painful angle. "I never forget a Jedi!"

Obi-Wan glared at him, but refused to say anything. A merciless grin curled the Zygerrian's lips. "Where's your little female partner...the one that Dooku said was a slave before?"

Obi-Wan's eyes snapped, and despite the fact silence might have been better, Obi-Wan decided to finally speak in an effort to protect Zelina. "Not here. She didn't want to be around your kind of scum."

That earned him a particularly powerful and painful blow to the jaw, and the whipping and questions continued, much more urgently and relentlessly now.

*******************************************

Zelina wandered confidently through the arena that was hosting the royal slave auction, snuffing out the flicker of satisfaction she felt when those that had heard of her victory in the palace slave pits stepped well out of her way, allowing her to pass. She kept her eyes peeled for Anakin, Ahsoka, or Obi-Wan, taking comfort in the fact that she knew Rex was searching the other side of the arena. She could sense Anakin somewhere above her, as well as Ahsoka, but she wasn't allowed up there. Apparently that was the Queen's private viewing box. Zelina didn't even want to think about how Anakin had made it up there, though she still hoped that maybe he would wander down and she could snag him and explain what was going on. He probably had no idea that Obi-Wan had been captured.

"...I give you a Togruta from the Kiros system!"

Zelina's head snapped up as the announcement was made down below her, in a pit well over a hundred meters deep. The walls that towered above the bottom of the pit were daunting, even in the face of a Force-assisted jump. She'd been tuning out the auctioneer, uninterested in the sale down below unless it had something to do with Togrutas, Kiros, Jedi, or Obi-Wan.

She'd already heard two of those things, and now her attention was riveted to the space down below as the elder Togruta she'd seen earlier was lead to the platform in the middle of the pit's floor. Zelina didn't pay attention to a word he said—something about a lack of rebellion and the man being worth fifteen thousand credits or something—and instead she focused on the stumbling Togruta chief as he slowly and painfully made his way to the platform, a hand gripping his side.

"It looks like he might not last long enough to do anything worth that price," someone behind her quipped.

The Queen suddenly appeared on the large viewscreen, and Zelina tensed, eyebrows raised in surprise. If the Queen was appearing, then something was going on.

"Before we begin the auction, I would welcome a most special guest," the Queen said, pausing for effect. "Obi-Wan Kenobi; Jedi Knight."

Zelina's hands tightened on the railing in front of her and she visibly tensed, eyes riveted on the spot down below where the Togruta elder had been led out. She sent a sudden, powerful wave of shock coming from Anakin and Ahsoka, and regretted that she hadn't been able to warn them about what was coming. Now, however, wasn't the time to be worried about that. Now was the time to be worried about the fact that Obi-Wan was most likely about to be sold at a slave auction.

Over her dead body!

The doors split opened and Obi-Wan limped painfully out, his Jedi clothes torn and burned, shielding his eyes from the assault the light caused on his eyes. Zelina's jaw tightened so hard her teeth ground together painfully. All around boos and insults could be heard, as well as jeers that the Jedi were not as tough as everyone thought they were.

"My friends, my good friends," the Queen continued. "Do not fear the Jedi; they are no different from others we have forced into submission, for they have forsaken their ideals to serve a corrupt Senate! Every Jedi has become a slave to the Republic. The Jedi Order is weak, and we will help break it."

Zelina sneered at the Queen's image on the big screen at the statement. Oh, that woman better hope I don't get my hands on her. Of course, I'll have to beat Anakin there, she thought to herself before she wrestled with her emotions to let go of the dangerous feelings. It was always her fierce and sometimes violent protection of those she cared about she had to watch...

Obi-Wan looked so helpless below her, she hated it, with him bent over, weak, clutching his arm. She wanted to sweep him out of there, but she was having problems finding a way to do that. Up above, Zelina felt a muffled but still detectable spike of concern from Anakin, and she allowed herself a brief moment to worry about what was going on above before she started to move up above, looking for a better vantage point and a more strategic position for when things went sour. She already knew that they would; it was an undercurrent in the Force that she had been looking for since Obi-Wan had been captured.

Zelina found herself positioned across the way from where she could sense Rex, right in the middle of a large group of guards. Down below, Zelina was shocked to see Anakin approaching Obi-Wan, electro-whip in hand as Obi-Wan was pushed to his knees. Anakin was looking around at the cheering stadium as he approached, and Zelina noticed that his eyes settled where she was standing. She stepped forward into the light where he could see her and nodded, Anakin inclining his head just slightly before turning his attention back to Obi-Wan in front of him. Shouts of 'Whip the Jedi!' were coming from all sides, and Zelina had to keep her expression from puckering in distaste.

Oh how she longed to be away from this vile place. Of course, there was no way she was leaving without any of the others.

"Prove to me you are a slaver," the Queen's voice suddenly stated for all to hear, and Zelina found her gaze never wavering from Anakin, her muscles tensed in anticipation of what was about to happen. "Swing that whip, or die beside him!"

Anakin gave the whip in his hand a fleeting glance, and Zelina sensed several strong emotions coming from him. It must have been killing him simply to hold the weapon, knowing the role it had played in Zelina's past. She still had scars despite the many bacta treatments she'd had since joining the Jedi Order.

Tension between Zelina's friends rose as everyone prepared themselves, and Zelina started doing mental preparations. If she didn't visibly move, she'd have the element of surprise against the guards around her...

"You leave me no choice, Highness," Anakin said loudly enough to be heard by the Queen, activating the electro-whip as he bowed low. Zelina's grip on the railing tightened as Anakin straightened up and gave a small two fingered salute.

Now.

With a crack, Anakin used the whip to disarm the Zygerrian guard standing over Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan rolled and knocked the guard flat on his back. There was a disturbance across the way as Rex jumped into action, but Zelina didn't move. She was waiting patiently, searching for the familiar glint of silver...

She saw the sun hit the shiny hilts and then reached out with the Force, calling the two lightsabers towards her without moving. The guards around her shouted in alarm, but they didn't know where the lightsabers were headed until it was too late. With a sigh of relief, Zelina reached out and snatched the two weapons from the air, activating them in one fluid motion and easily taking out the five guards who had been standing too close to her before she continued on. Blaster bolts were raining down on Obi-Wan and Anakin from her level, and she was going to see if she could do something about that. It seemed Rex was too preoccupied to take care of that himself.

With the speed only a well-trained Jedi could possess, Zelina sprinted down her now guard-free corridor towards the hall that housed most of the pests bothering Obi-Wan and Anakin down below. Luckily the boys had their lightsabers to deflect those shots, but they wouldn't be able to afford to split their attention for long. As soon as Zelina rounded the corner she threw her shoto blade in a deadly spinning blur of green light, using her purple blade to take down the targets that were closer to her and to deflect the shots that were immediately focused on her. She called the shoto blade back to her after it had gone down the length of the hall, and quickly became a deadly blur of brown, green, and purple. Onlookers and prospective buyers shrieked in alarm and ran, and Zelina noticed with increasing unease that more and more guards were turning their attention on her. Instead of letting her worry hinder her progress, she pushed the feeling aside and added some Force attacks to her offense, throwing guards back through the air with powerful Force pushes to buy her some time.

A sharp spike of pain from Ahsoka momentarily distracted Zelina, and she felt the sharp burn of a blaster bolt grazing her shoulder in return, snapping her attention back to the battle she was in at the moment. She could only hope the young girl was all right...

Zelina's worry spiked dangerously as down below a swarm of electro-whip armed guards suddenly appeared, and the guards on Zelina's level suddenly became the least of their worries. Rex, at some point, had fallen from Zelina's level and was now on the ground below, fighting hand to hand with the Zygerrian guard he'd managed to take down with him. Zelina sped up her assaults, desperate to free herself up to try and help the other three down below. Grimly, Zelina noticed when Rex's presence in the Force diminished, signaling that the man had lost consciousness. Impatient, Zelina pulled the Force towards her and pushed all of the guards in the hall over the ledge and down to the ground below. Drained, she sank to her knee, snatching up a fallen blaster off to her right and taking one quick breather before she took aim on one of the guards down below. She couldn't afford to rest right now—the boys needed her.

Electro-whips lashed at Obi-Wan and Anakin from all sides, and while she was steadying her aim Zelina saw one wrap around the already weakened Obi-Wan's wrist while another got him in the back, and he hit his knees with a cry of pain she could faintly hear from her spot up above.

"Obi-Wan!" she cried out instinctively, taking aim and shooting down one of the whip guards They just kept lashing out though, and soon Obi-Wan was out of commission.

It was just Zelina and Anakin.

Zelina stood up sharply, taking aim and taking out three more guards. She could sense more guards heading her way, and a bead of sweat trickled down her neck. She couldn't get captured on this mission—she wouldn't! She would not become a slave again.

Again...the thought caused panic to rise in her chest, and she struggled to stay calm enough to retain her connection with the Force. Down below, Anakin fought off the remaining guards furiously, a whip in one hand and his lightsaber in the other. Fierce, passionate determination wafted up to Zelina in waves as her friend experienced the same thing she was experiencing; the prospect that they could end up slaves again if they didn't win this fight.

With the whip, Zelina watched Anakin take out four guards in not even ten seconds, with Zelina laying down cover fire for him the best that she could. She could feel her time running out though, and just as she realized she had to put her gun down and make a break for it or get caught, an electro-whip wound its way around Anakin's wrists. And then another around the left hand, and then one on the right leg...

Anakin screamed in pain, and Zelina felt it, felt it so strongly mixed in with his determination not to submit, that she gasped, her vision leaving her for a moment before she straightened up and unhooked her lightsabers from her wrists. She would not leave him to this fate. She had to help him. She couldn't help everyone, but she could at least get Anakin out of here.

She hoped.

Another whip wound its way around his other wrist, another around his other leg, and another curled around his neck, and Anakin let out a scream of determined fury the same moment that Zelina lept out of the hall she was standing in, arching down to the floor down below just as the guards that she'd sensed approaching rounded the corner into the hall she'd been in. Zelina landed lithely on the floor of the pit behind one of the slavers the same moment that Anakin hit his knees, unable to take the pain anymore.

It was like she wasn't inside of her body anymore. Zelina moved with the Force, her motions a blur as while everything around her moved in slow motion. She took down the slaver who she'd landed behind, and then the two next to him effortlessly, throwing her shoto blade into one slaver while she sliced open the other with her violet lightsaber. Some of the slavers hurried to take their whips off of the nearly unconscious Anakin to focus on Zelina, but she was too fast for them, severing their hands from their bodies before their brains could even process what had happened. By then, those that remained grouped together, moving to make a group advance on Zelina.

She wasn't even going to give them the chance.

She deactivated her lightsabers, jumping on top of the platform and scooping Anakin up, slinging his limp form over her shoulders with a grunt before she gathered herself and the Force, eyes set with fierce determination on the roof of the auction pit. With a powerful, fatiguing push, Zelina vaulted into the air and landed on the roof, stumbling instantly from the effort but managing to stay ontop of the roof.

Run! Her mind screamed at her, though her legs were slow to comply. Still, she steeled herself, repositioned Anakin's limp body, and then took off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with perhaps a little too much help from the Force. Her body screamed at her that she wouldn't be able to keep this pace up for long while carrying Anakin, but her mind shouted that she had to, she couldn't stop. Stopping would mean they were caught, and getting caught meant going back into slavery.

Anakin's head lolled against her back as Zelina ran, not really paying attention to where she was going. She could sense that he still had some form of consciousness, though he was close to blacking out. At the same time, Zelina knew that she couldn't keep running. She had to stop, because she was already running out of strength, even with the help of the Force. Her shoulder injury burned painfully, making it difficult to carry Anakin, she was fatigued from her intense, raw use of the Force, and her physical limits were fast approaching.

Hide...I need somewhere to hide, she thought, and the first thing that popped into her mind was the dark alley that her and Rex had met in earlier. If she could stumble across another one...

The Force whispered to her to take a left, and so she did, dropping down into an alley three houses over. It was dark enough to convince her muddled brain that it might just be night already, but she didn't focus long on that Instead, she dropped Anakin onto the dirt ground, taking care to avoid hurting his head. He groaned in pain, head lolling to the side while Zelina stumbled to her feet and dragged Anakin well out of the way into the darkest corner in the alley, digging around in the trash until she found a long enough piece of cloth to cover Anakin's lengthy frame. She threw it over his body, making sure it concealed all of him before she knelt down beside his head, noting that his eyes were cracked open and staring at her in a daze.

"Zelina..." he groaned. Zelina put a gentle but trembling hand to his cheek.

"Don't talk," she murmured. "Don't move. I'm going to hide you back here. Come out when you have your strength back. I'm going to keep moving and draw them away from you."

"Dangerous..." he whispered, voice worn and easily showing just how weak he truly was.

"I know...but one of us has to keep out of their grasp, and this is the only way I can think to assure that at least one of us will," she replied softly. Biting her lip nervously as a sense of warning raced up her spine, Zelina leaned down and kissed Anakin.

Shock came across from Anakin loud and clear despite his weary state, though his lips did move in weak accordance with her own passionate kiss for a few seconds before Zelina abruptly pulled away.

"For luck," she whispered, her voice shaking. It was for luck, yes...but it was also because she was scared and didn't know what was going to happen when she left the alley. "Stay safe."

With that, she pulled the cloth over Anakin's head, making sure he was well hidden before she hoisted herself to the roof once more and continued her run, albeit a little faster this time since she wasn't carrying as much weight with her this time.

"There, up there! It's the Jedi!" came a cry from down below. Zelina grimaced and cut closer to the inside of the rooftops, keeping herself moving. She just needed to move as far away from Anakin as possible, hopefully get away herself so that she could meet up with Anakin once it was safe to do so.

Her legs burned, and blaster bolts started to zip past her; not harmless stun bolts, deadly blaster bolts. One of them struck her in the same shoulder that had been hit earlier and Zelina cried out but somehow kept moving, using the Force to keep herself upright and moving. Her vision was fuzzy around the edges and she just knew that at any moment—

Something coiled around her wrist.

Blast it, Force, no!

The next moment, Zelina felt a familiar feeling of electricity coursing through her and saw the world tilting and spinning at an odd angle, but she lost consciousness before she could even hit the ground.