Hey folks, here's an extra chapter for Christmas :)
I wish you all a merry Christmas, hopefully you'll have great days with your families and friends!

Chapter 26:

Anakin sat in the cockpit, watching the stars streak by in an endless swirl of light. As a boy, when he'd traveled through hyperspace for the first time. He had sat hours at an end and watched them in wonder, completely fascinated.

Now, however, his patience was stretched already one hour after take-off. It was just so hard to do nothing but waiting when he was needed somewhere, when someone needed him.

And the list of options what he could do on the ship was painfully short, especially when you weren't in the mood to meditate.

But mood or no mood, he knew he needed to center himself before they reached Coruscant – confronting Sidious would be bad enough even without emotional turmoil – and why not start now?

He settled deeper into the pilot's chair, doing without a cross-legged position this time, and started by evening his breathing and calming his mind.

When he'd finally reached a certain level of of giving himself over to the Force – the main point why he'd always disliked meditation, Obi-Wan had spent years trying to teach him to just let go and let the Force take over, his fear of being controlled had been so great – he again felt the odd but now familiar blossoming of a presence around him.

"Master Qui-Gon! I had half a mind you would show up!" he greeted him, smiling.

"Am I that predictable?" the deep baritone resonated in his mind, amusement coloring the words.

Anakin cocked one eyebrow. "The great Qui-Gon Jinn predictable? Never!"

"Brat!"Qui-Gon chided playfully.

Anakin hesitated for a moment, at loath to destroy the light mood, but he had to know and he was pretty sure that was the reason why Qui-Gon visited him anyway, so he asked, "Master Qui-Gon, what about Obi-Wan? Is he alright?"

The playfulness instantly left the Force-ghost's presence, replaced by sadness and worry.

"I'm afraid not good. I can't stay long around Sidious or he would spot me, so I don't know the whole thing, but from what I've gathered Sidious tried to get your location from Obi-Wan and when he refused invaded his mind. Obi-Wan somehow managed to stop him, stubborn man, Predictably Sidious wasn't happy."

Anakin slumped in his seat, torn between relief that his family was safe and guilt and anger that Obi-Wan had to go through this all.

"So what now?" he asked bleakly.

"You have to hurry."

Anakin rolled his eyes. How helpful.

"This ship can't get any faster than this, Master. Got any other ideas?"

A sigh.

"Anakin, I can't help you any more. You have to find your own way. I only advise you to be cautious around Palpatine, he always has tricks up his sleeve."

Amusement again.

"And maybe you should check the whole ship before take-off."

And he was gone.

Anakin frowned. What the heck had he been talking about ?
But then, as if a veil lifted from his senses, he sensed a second presence on board – directly in front of the cockpit door.

Instinctively he tensed his hand going to his lightsaber, for a moment confused there was another one hanging from his belt, just as the door swished open.

His chin dropped in shock. "Master Shryne?! What are you doing here?!"

Shryne's lips twitched faintly in amusement. "I'm hitching a ride, Knight Skywalker."

Anakin closed his mouth with a sharp clack. "Of all the hard-headed, stubborn, irritating Jed Masters! I wasn't joking when I said you would be killed if you accompanied me!"

Shryne grasped his chance as Anakin, already a bit red in the face, stopped for breath, and calmly said, "I know."

Anakin, already in the motion of opening his mouth to continue his rant, stopped dead.

"What?!"

Shryne sighed. "I know I'm going to die," he repeated.

"And why, for Force's sake, did you insist on coming then?" Anakin demanded heatedly. "We're already short on Jedi Masters in case you haven't noticed!"

"The Force urged me to come – and Master Yoda agreed," Shryne replied simply, not at all fazed by the younger Jedi's wrath.

Anakin sagged in his seat, defeated. "I take it Yoda helped hide your presence? I should have sensed you."

Shryne nodded.

"Well, since I can't do anything about you being here anyway..."
He turned a serious eye on the Master. "But I need to know, will you follow my lead? If we don't agree on this one, we might as well turn around at once."

Without any hesitation, Sryne answered, "Yes, I will. As long as it is at least a bit reasonable."

And Anakin believed him.

"Fine with me. Cause it won't be pretty. Obi-Wan was brought there five days ahead of us since we had to wait for you and Master Yoda to arrive from Dagobah," Anakin said, deciding to keep his discussion with Qui-Gon to himself. Shryne didn't need to know about that, if he would even believe him.

Shryne looked grim. "I'm afraid you're right there, Skywalker."

For once Anakin wouldn't have minded someone not agreeing with him.

Padme lay in the big bed, carved from wood of the Wookie planet Kashyyk she normally shared with Anakin, staring at the ceiling unblinking. It was the evening after Anakin had left – and she felt incredibly lonely. She'd even brought the twins' hovercrib in here, but once Luke and Leia had gone to sleep and didn't distract her any more. The loneliness returned with overwhelming force. But still, it felt better having the twins near.

She knew that she really shouldat least try to sleep. Worrying herself sick over Anakin wouldn't help him any and the day had been tiring.

Especially the conversation with Han when he'd finally woken from Anakin's sleep suggestion around midday. To say the least, he hadn't been exactly happy to be left behind and had retreated to his room to brood – and probably think of a way to follow Anakin.

Judging by the irritated mumbling she'd heard when she last passed his door an hour ago, he hadn't been successful as yet.

And Master Yoda...well as far as she knew he was still mediating in the small room Anakin had declared to be the new 'mediation chamber'.

Suddenly the hairs on her arms stood up, her neck prickling. Something inside her head screamed "Danger!"

Padme was up in an instant, switching easily – too easily a part of her mind noted – into her battle-mode, which had saved her life numerous times during the war. She didn't like fighting, even hated it, but that didn't mean she couldn't do it.

She opened the top drawer of the bedside table, pulling out a slim but powerful blaster of Nubian make, a remnant of her time as a Queen and Senator.

Then, with a painful jolt of worry, she remembered the twins. She quickly looked around the room for a place to hide them so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire – nothing.
But then her eye fell on the balcony door and a slow smile spread over her face.

Yes, that would do. Thank the Force Anakin had insisted on a room with a balcony!

Grabbing the crib, she hurried over to the door and, hitting the switch that would extend an energy-shield over the balcony to keep out the cold, pushed the crib through the door, keying in the cods to lock it afterward. It wouldn't hold a barrage of blaster fire, but it was better than nothing. The whole idea wasn't perfect, but considering the alternative...she couldn't bear it if anything happened to her children.

Then, her blaster at the ready, she positioned herself on one side of the door to the hallway, waiting.

Yoda, perched cross-legged on a cushion in the 'meditation chamber', sought to get at least a hint of what the future would bring – and, despite himself, he was frustrated. The veil of the dark side seemed ever so stronger today, and with the energy he constantly needed to hide his and the twins' presences, he didn't stand a chance to pierce through it.

He was just about to resurface from his meditation when suddenly the Force sent warning bells off in his head. And not about the future, but something very much closer.

Yoda bolted upright, and with a speed that belied his age and cane sped out of the room towards the terrace door, all the while wondering how things had managed to get so bad that a Jedi didn't sense a threat until it was practically yon his doorstep – literally.

Sensing a gathering of presences ahead of him, he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and barreled around a corner – landing in the midst of a troop of ten Clones in black-striped white armor.

Letting loose a feral battle-cry one would not have expected such a diminutive being to be able to voice, Yoda cut down the first Clone n a swirl of green and the jumped around haphazardly as blaster fire erupted all around him.

But in a small, cramped space as this the troopers didn't stand any chance against a Jedi – especially not Yoda.

Nine slashes of green fire later it was all over.

Yoda didn't even breathe heavily when he clipped his lightsaber back to his belt with a quiet sigh of regret for the lives he'd been force to take, he just couldn't have risked one of the Clones surviving and reporting back.

At that moment he heard a scream, instantly recognizing Senator Amidala's voice, and, with a dreadful feeling spreading in his gut, realized he had failed to eliminate all the Clones. The ten waiting for him hadn't been the complete Commando.

He sprung into action.

Han was alternating between being angry at Ben and Anakin and the galaxy in general, and feeling sorry for himself.

He'd spent the whole afternoon trying to think of a way to get to Coruscant – it was certainly surprising the carpet hadn't worn out yet – but without a ship and alone it seemed impossible. Which only made him angrier – and more afraid. He didn't know what he would do if Ben didn't return and that Anakin fellow had seemed nice enough, too. Beside he just hated sitting around uselessly, doing nothing.

If a part of him realized that Ben and Anakin had done the sensible thing in not allowing him to come, the rest quickly drowned the notion. He didn't want to be rational right now.

Han was passing the door again in his pacing when he suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of a blaster going off.

Instantly alert, his long years of living on the run as smuggler and thief taking over, he drew his blaster and, positioning himself on one side of the door, slapped the release button.

The door swished open, and when no foe came barging through and no sound was to be heard, he carefully peeked into the hallway.

It was deserted.

Relaxing slightly, he considered his next step. Where had that shot come from?
At that moment another series of shots sounded, and this time he was able to pinpoint it.

Turning left, he headed down the hallway to the Skywalkers's bedroom, reminding himself sternly not to think about who might have died already.

As he neared their room, he could see the feint wisps of smoke wafting through the doorway and a dead Clone lay on the threshold, upper body outside, the rest inside.

Careful now, he crept closer and halted beside the door, wondering if barging in there would be a good idea, but then a scream sounded – definitely female his aching ears supplied – and the muffled sound of something hard hitting the ground was to be heard.

All hesitation leaving him, he jumped into the door frame, looked at the scene before him, took aim and pulled the trigger.

His aim had been true.

The Clone who'd pinned a struggling Padme to the ground fell sideways, a burned hole in his back, landing next to one of his brethren, who was also dead.

Padme sat up, looking a bit shaky but otherwise okay, and Han quickly hurried to her side to help her up.

Once she was standing, she didn't even wobble, er self-control returning. Han instantly let go of her arm.

"Are you hurt, Padme?" he asked, anxiously checking her over.

"No, no, I'm alright," she assured him, just as Master Yoda bolted through the door.

He looked around. "Ah, taken care of everything you already have, hmh?"

Padme smiled. Han noted impressed that one couldn't have known that she'd been close to death just a minute before from her bearing.

"Thanks to Han, yes. Are there any more of them?"

"Neutralized the others I did. Safe it is now," Yoda replied, shaking his head slowly.

"Well, then..."

Padme turned and headed towards the balcony. Han eyed her a bit confusedly, but the confusion was replaced by delight as she returned with the twins' crib. Even Yoda looked pleased.

As Padme cuddled and soother the distraught babies, Yoda asked, "Contact Anakin you think we should?"

Padme looked up, the joyous smiled dying on her lips at the question. "No, Master Yoda, I don't. If we tell him he'll just feel guilty and maybe even come back here."

She looked down at her children again. "How long are we still safe here?"

"Hm, no one knows where disappear these Clones did. And until noticed their absence is...a week we might have, Trust in Anakin we must."

"To kill the Emperor in time," Padme finished the sentence, bitterness lacing her voice. "I know."

As Han looked from the green guy to her and back again, he wondered once again just how messed up the life of this family was – and would become.