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

Chapter 37: Season 4 (Chasing Hardeen)

Zelina managed to talk one of the council members into letting her investigate how Hardeen, Bane, and Eval had escaped purely for the sake of improving the security of the prison. Really, she wanted to get a lead on the three, two of them for personal reasons.

Like she was going to tell the Jedi Masters that.

Now, after a very thorough search and a full detailed report to the council and the head of security for the prison the three had escaped from, she was sitting in Anakin's room, giving him a rundown of what she had found.

"Boba Fett started a riot in the cafeteria—from the looks of it one of Eval's crew may have bribed him into starting one. In the confusion the three slipped out and made their way to the morgue, where they rode the shoots down to the crematorium. They overwhelmed the guards, had a quick getaway to the outside from there, were now armed, and stole a police speeder and fled the scene. After that they ditched the speeder and stole some poor Aqualish's freighter," Zelina explained from her seat on Anakin's bed while Anakin paced the length of the room in a fury.

"Any idea as to where they were headed?" Anakin asked, his tone hard.

"No, none. We'll know when they appear though, as the ship's already been reported missing," Zelina explained.

"That's not good enough!" Anakin exclaimed harshly. "He shouldn't have escaped in the first place—I should have killed him when I had the chance!"

"Anakin," Zelina said sharply, and Anakin rounded on her.

"No, Zelina, I will not calm down. I've earned the right to be angry about this," Anakin snapped.

"At the very least, try to think rationally," Zelina replied in an exasperated tone of voice.

"Oh, like you do when Grievous is around?"

Zelina stood up at his words, her expression cold. "Fine, if you're going to be that way, I'll just leave," she said in a cool tone, turning to leave. She almost made it to the door before Anakin's voice stopped her.

"Zelina, I...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that..."

"No, you shouldn't have," Zelina returned, keeping her back to him. "You know Anakin, there are people that want to help you, but we can't if you keep pushing us away. When you calm down again, you know how to find me."

Before Anakin could even protest, Zelina left the room, shaking her head and nursing her hurt that he would stoop so low as to make such a jab.

Anakin didn't chase after Zelina—he knew the damage had been done. Now Zelina wanted to be left alone and he'd chased off one of his best sources of support. Still, with the news she'd given him he still needed someone to talk to, and his guilt at chasing her off only deepened.

But for now she needed space, he needed someone to vent to, and he could only think of one place to go to.

With that thought in mind, Anakin rose to his feet and left his room in the Temple, one destination firmly in his mind.

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"General; we're prepared to make our departure as soon as you give the word."

Zelina turned to Cruiser and gave him a small smile, nodding somewhat sharply. "Then we should make a swift departure, shouldn't we?"

Cruiser inclined his head. "I'll go tell the Admiral so he can set course for Nal Hutta."

"Thank you, Cruiser," Zelina said gently, turning back to the display before her of the planet and the report in her hand as her Captain left. There had been a sighting of Rako Hardeen and his ragtag group on Nal Hutta, and Zelina was now continuing her chase of the fugitives, even if she hadn't resolved her issue with Anakin yet. Right now she had a lead on Obi-Wan's killer, and she wasn't going to let the man slip through her fingers again. Determination glinting in her eyes, Zelina flipped through the vague report, studying the coordinates and the information on the town Hardeen had been spotted in intently. She wanted to get there as fast as possible, hopefully to intercept the group of criminals before they made a break for it and moved to a different system. If they were smart, they wouldn't stay on Nal Hutta long and would leave as soon as possible, and Zelina was hoping to catch them before they could. Even if she didn't get there fast enough, she could still stay on their tail. She would catch them—Obi-Wan's killer would not continue to roam free, not while Zelina was still alive and breathing.